Final Fantasy
by ThatBlackMage
Summary: My novelization of Final Fantasy I, with a little editing of dialogue...and plot...and some new things thrown in...and some old things taken out...and the the required bumbling black mage with amnesia. Rated T. R&R please! While complete, this story still has some typos/grammar/inconsistency errors I'm trying to work out so it might get updated from time to time. Enjoy!
1. Prologue

Hey everyone! This is my first real fanfic, and the first thing I've ever put up online. Hope you enjoy, and yes, I did take a lot of liberty in altering the plot. Reviews welcome, especially constructive ones. Enjoy!

Prologue

As I walked down the street one afternoon, something shiny caught my eye. There, sitting in the gutter, was a smooth glass-like orb. Curious, I picked it up. For a moment it looked innocent enough. Then it started to glow.

I stared at it in disbelief, but before I could even utter a cry there was a lurching feeling in my entire body and I was sucked through a portal that had not been there before.


	2. The Fourth Orb

Chapter 1: The Fourth Orb

"I don't see what you're so upset about, Sami."

Sami, a young White Mage, turned to face the Red Mage behind her.

"Well, Lily, I for one think that for us to truly be the Light Warriors, we need all four orbs. I have one. You have one. Tom has one. But the prophesy says that there are _four_ heroes, with _four_ orbs. We are _three_ heroes-to-be with _three_ orbs. Now tell me, does that sound right? Three instead of four?"

Lily never got to answer that question. There was a thunderclap, and a swirling vortex appeared above them. Tom, who had just caught up with the two girls, stared at it in disbelief.

Something small and round shot through the vortex and landed not far from them. Had they had the time to investigate, they would have seen it to be an orb almost identical to theirs. But the vortex hadn't closed. Instead, there was another thunderclap and a larger mass came hurtling from it. The form flew at the place where the orb had landed, somehow picking it up, and rolled a ways before coming to a hard stop by running into a tree.

Sami, Lily, and Tom ran towards the figure, who was dressed in a bluish robe and pointed conical hat with leather boots and gloves. A Black Mage from the looks of it, though he didn't look like he could cast any spells for a while. In fact, he looked really quite hurt.

"Should we take him to the inn?" Lily asked in a whisper, as though fearing the mage would wake up.

"Yes." Said Sami reluctantly, "He's hurt, and besides, not all Black Mages are bad." The last phrase she uttered rather reluctantly, as though she had a hard time believing it herself.

"I'll carry him." Tom said as he picked up the unconscious mage. The orb fell out of his hand, and like lightning had struck him he woke up.

Flailing madly, he squirmed from Tom's grip and landed on the ground. His hand clutched the orb, and for the first time they could see his eyes. Gazing back at them from the dark depths of his hat and robe were two glowing, yellow eyes. It was an unsettling effect, though not so bad as he promptly passed out again.

Making sure the orb never left his side, they carried the fallen mage to Cornelia to the inn there.

A bright light…a flash…falling…the orb…three people…helping me…what's happening… where am I?

"Where am I?" came his raspy voice from his sore body.

"You're at the inn at Cornelia." came a voice. Masculine, like one would find in a fighter or a warrior.

"Cor…Cornelia?" he asked, "Where's Cornelia?"

"You must have taken quite a hit on the head there if you don't know where Cornelia is." Came the voice again.

"Hit on the head?" he asked, then finally opened his eyes. He was laying on a hard bed in what must have been an inn. Sitting on a chair near him was a tall young man, probably about his age, wearing red armor. A smile was on his face, and he looked nice enough.

"Yeah, hit on the head. When you came out of that vortex-thing. Don't you remember?" There was now a look of concern on the stranger's face.

"No."

The door opened and two girls, both about his age, entered. One was dressed in red, with a cape and collar covering most of her face and a plumed hat covering her white-blonde hair. The other was wearing a robe, a white one decorated with red triangles along the edges. She looked almost angry to see him.

"Well well well, our Black Mage has finally woken up." Said the white one almost threateningly.

"Black Mage? Is that who I am?"

"He doesn't remember anything." Said the one in red armor.

"Oh." said the one in white. "So, you don't remember anything? Not even your name?"

The Black Mage thought for a moment, his glowing eyes narrowing in concentration. "Nate, I think." He said after a moment, "Yes, I think my name is Nate. What's yours?"

"Tom." Said the one in red armor.

"I'm Lily." Answered the one in the red cape.

"And I'm Sami." Finished the one in white.

"Nice to meet you all." Nate said. Had they been able to see his face, they would have seen a smile. As it was, all they saw were his eyes scrunching merrily as he looked at them.

"So," started Sami, "I guess you don't know anything about the significance of your orb?"

"Orb?" Nate asked.

"That." Lily said, pointing to the glass-like ball on the nightstand.

Nate picked it up and gazed intently into its depths. "I…I don't know. I think it's important, but I don't know how."

"That orb," said Tom, "is a symbol of a Light Warrior. Which makes _you_ a Light Warrior."

"And what does a 'Light Warrior' do, exactly?" Nate asked.

"Well…"Sami said, "the question might be better phrased 'what are we _supposed_ to do.' But basically, we need to defeat the demon Chaos and make the orbs shine again. It's a dangerous road though, so if you don't want to come…"

"Of course I'll come!" Nate exclaimed as he jumped off the bed, orb clutched tightly in his hand, "If this orb really does make me a Light Warrior, then I'll do it! Maybe I'll get my memories back while we go! So, what do we do first?"

"I like that attitude." Tom said, "First, we need to talk to the king. He should know something about where we need to go."

As the four marched up the castle Lily and Nate were discussing things such as magic, weapons, and armor. Sami, however, was having a slightly heated discussion with Tom.

"Do you really think we should let him join us? He's a Black Mage after all." She whispered.

"That he may be, but he has an orb. Besides, he doesn't remember a thing. That, and he just doesn't seem the type to betray us." Tom whispered back.

"But he's a Black Mage!" she whispered.

"Yeah, and I'm a Fighter. Does that mean I should be dumber than a post and merciless?"

"No!"

"My point."

Lily's voice broke through their conversation. "I don't know much about war hammers. You'll have to ask Tom. Hey, Tom! How heavy are war hammers?"

"I dunno. They range from between twenty-five and a hundred pounds. I doubt you'd be able to use them though. Most black mages use staves or knives."

Nate's eyes seemed to look upward in thought, then nodded. "Great, I'll keep that in mind." And with that he turned back to Lily, who began to animatedly show him some of the moves one could use with a staff.

"Still…" Sami said.

"Why, Sami!" Tom said back to her, smiling, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were prejudice against Black Mages."

"Wh-what? Me?" She sputtered for a moment.

Tom chuckled, but didn't have time to reply. They were at the castle.


	3. The Missing Princess

Chapter 2: The Missing Princess

The guards stopped them at the front gate. "Halt! State your name and business!" shouted one guard.

Tom was the one to answer. "We believe we are the Light Warriors, and we wish to see the king."

The guard snorted. "Light Warriors? You shrimps? I doubt it. What proof do you have of this?"

Tom held out his orb. Everyone else, following Tom's example, held out theirs.

The guard looked at them with a judging glare. "These look authentic enough, but I am not the one that can tell. You may enter."

The group entered the castle and, following a harassed-looking chamberlain to the throne room, met the king.

Somehow, Nate had thought the king would look more…calm. Certainly not like he was right now. His eyes were bloodshot, his robes disheveled, and a look of general anxiety lay strewn across his face. Someone, a chancellor by the looks of him, came up to them. "The King is not accepting audiences today." He said, "His daughter, Princess Sarah, has been kidnapped."

The group turned and looked at each other. "We've got to do something." Tom whispered. He didn't get any arguments, so he looked back at the chancellor and asked, "Who kidnapped Princess Sarah?"

The chancellor sighed. "At one time, he was a great knight. Now, he's gone mad. His name is Garland, and if our sources are right he's holed up in the Temple of Fiends. It's north-west of here, but do you really think you can take on Garland? He was the greatest swordsman in the land."

Tom considered this for a moment. "Yeah, I think we can." Everyone else (minus the king, who was too busy maiming a handkerchief to notice) looked at Tom like he was crazy. "We'll need better armor and weapons, as well as some spells for the magic wielders, but yes, I think we can do it."

"Excuse us for a moment." Lily and Sami said at the same time, gabbing Tom and Nate and pulling them into a huddle. "What are you _doing?_" Lily whispered venomously. "We may have the orbs, but there is no way we can take on the greatest swordsman in the kingdom!"

"One-on-one, maybe. But there's four of us and only one of him. Three of us can use magic, and you're good with a sword too. I'm sure we can overpower him, by diversity if nothing else. He can't block all four of us at once, can he?"

"But…but…oh, all right. I'm in." Lily said. Sami and Nate, who had been keeping rather quiet the whole time, nodded.

Turning back to the chancellor, Lily nodded. "Yeah, we'll do it." Then, turning back to the rest of the group, said, "Let's go get the new supplies. I've got the nasty feeling we're going to need them."

Back in the city of Cornelia, the four started shopping around. They didn't have much money, but that didn't seem to be a problem. It seemed like Nate could smell a sale at a hundred paces. They got most of their armor and weapons for half price on an auction held by the guards. This was a good thing, as the spells were not cheap.

Most of the money went to Nate. Sami and Lily knew some spells already, such as Heal and Thunder. But Nate, being a clean slate, had nothing. In the end he learned Fire, Thunder, and Sleep. Sami picked up Dia, a spell against undead, and Lily added Fire to her spell list.

A stop to the potion shop later and the four were headed to the Temple of fiends.


	4. An Encounter with Imps

Chapter 3: An Encounter with Imps

The road was long gone and all they had to follow was an overgrown path. The forest was pleasant and it was a nice day. They followed the path until noon and took a break for lunch. They had just finished when Lily stiffened. She looked around, eyes narrowed, then said, "Something's out there."

She had just said that when a group of imps charged out from the trees. They screeched as they waved their knives. The four were now back to back in a defensive position as more imps filled the clearing.

"Great. Not even to the Temple yet and we're trapped by a bunch of ugly midgets with sharp sticks." Sami murmured, "Wonderful."

"It's not so bad." Nate said, beating back an imp with his staff. "It could be werewolves."

"Oh, yeah," Sami said sarcastically, "it could be so much worse."

"Well, it could!" Nate said, now trying to shake an imp off the end of his staff.

"Let's just try to survive this!" Lily said, "We'll have a better shot if you two stop bickering about irrelevant information!"

"Uh, people? Focus here!" Tom said, sending an imp flying off into the forest.

Everyone turned their whole attention to the imps. Lily's rapier skewered several imps, while Sami's hammer sent many more flying. Tom was taking on ten at once and winning. Nate, however, was struggling. His staff was just sending them head over heels, from which they just got back up and charged again. Nate tried to cast a spell, but couldn't remember the words. He kept on beating off imps while he tried to remember the spells he had been taught only hours before.

A phrase suddenly popped into his head, a spell. Holding off an imp with his staff in one hand, he started muttering the incantation. There was a flash, a boom, and everything within twenty feet in front of him was scorched. The imps stopped attacking, looked at the carnage, and fled. Everyone looked at the triumphant Black Mage.

He didn't look too triumphant. His hand was outstretched, a surprised look in his glowing yellow eyes. The tip of his hat was burning slightly, which he reached up and put out.

"Whoops." He said.

The rest of the party was dead silent for a moment, then burst out laughing and cheering. Nate didn't say anything at first, he just opened his backpack and pulled out a piece of parchment with the spells he had learned written on it. He looked at it for a second, the muttered, "So _that's_ what happens when you say the last first and the first last."

The laughter resumed as they left for Chaos Shrine and the Temple of Fiends.


	5. The Temple of Fiends

Chapter 4: The Temple of Fiends

Several goblins, a mad pony, and a pack of wolves later the Temple of Fiends was in sight. They started to move more quietly, an unconscious action brought about by the atmosphere of the barren land.

"What happened here?" Nate asked in a whisper, looking at the rotting earth.

"The earth is rotting." Tom replied, "The Prophesy is coming true."

"What's the Prophesy?" Nate asked, "I've never heard of it."

It was Lily that answered the question. Calmly, almost as if she had spent a lot of time memorizing it, she recited,

"When the darkness veils the world,

The wind dies…

The sea rages…

The earth decays…

Four Warriors of Light shall come…

Each carrying an Orb."

"So, this is the decay it spoke of." Nate said, looking at the decay around them.

"The earth itself is dying." Sami said quietly, "The sea is in pain, and the wind has faltered. Darkness has covered the land. The only thing keeping some from giving up was the last two lines of the Prophesy, 'Four Warriors of Light shall come, Each carrying an Orb.'"

"And we have the orbs." Nate said.

"Hopefully." Sami said, a slight glare in her eyes. "If they are not the Orbs, then we're in for trouble. _Fatal_ trouble."

"Oh." The Black Mage said, grimacing.

"Enough scare tactics." Tom said, "We have a bigger problem."

"What?" Sami asked. Neither Nate of Lily said anything. Tom simply pointed over her shoulder.

"Them." He said.

Sami spun around and nearly had a heart attack. Three skeletons were advancing toward them, axes held in an attack position and murder in their smiling, red-light-eyed faces.

Oh, crap!" Sami jumped, pulling out her hammer.

Lily looked surprised. "You said _crap?_ I didn't know you knew that!"

"Well, I do. Now shut up and help me with these things." Sami replied, swinging her hammer to block an axe.

The battle got hotter when another two skeletons joined in, bringing the four to breaking point. Tom swung his sword and sent a skull flying off into a dead tree, getting it lodged between two branches. Lily's rapier ripped another skeleton's arms off, quickly followed by the head. Nate's fire sent two skeletons slamming into trees, sending arms, legs, and skulls flying everywhere, including into three skeletons that just joined the battle. Sami was chanting something, and it wasn't for several moments that anyone realized what she was doing.

A surge of light erupted around her, and the skeletons felt it. They cried out in an unearthly voice, then disintegrated to dust.

"Dia." Nate said, "Harms only the undead. Nice."

"Yeah, well, you're not the only one who can hurt things." Sami replied, panting from exertion, "Just because all my spells can hurt are dead things."

"Well, I'm glad you're on our side either way." Nate said, then bent over double, grasping his ribs. A red trickle came from between his gloved fingers, betraying the gash in his ribs.

"Oh, here. Hold still." Sami growled. She moved his hand away from the wound and whispered something. The red stain remained, but the skin healed and the pain vanished. Nate stood upright, surprised.

"Thanks." He said.

"Don't mention it. Now let's go get Garland." Sami said, putting her hammer back on her back. Tom and Lily, watching from a few feet away, joined them.

They didn't meet any more resistance as they approached the Temple, and none more as they entered the Shrine. The darkness prevented them from seeing anything, and it wasn't until Nate lit a torch (and nearly singed Tom's eyebrows off) that they saw where they were.

The room looked sad. Its past had obviously been a rough and troubled one. A large orb sat on a pedestal in the middle of the room. It glittered in the torchlight, but didn't glow itself. Several bats were flitting around the room, screeching weirdly. And behind it was…

…an altar with Princess Sarah on it.

"So, someone finally came." A voice from the shadows said. A man in armor with a horned helm stepped out of the shadows. "You were looking for Garland? You have found him."

"Hand over the Princess and we won't have to kill you." Tom said calmly.

"Amusing." Garland said, "But you will not get the Princess. I, Garland, will knock you all down!"

There was a second of silence, then the four broke out laughing. If they could see Garland's face, they could see how furious he was.

"Knock…knock us…down…ha ha ha…" Lily gasped, clutching her ribs and doubled over from the laughter.

"Oh…ha ha…scary. I'm…ha ha…petrified with…ha ha…terror." Nate gasped.

Tom didn't say anything, he was just doubled up. Sami was rolling on the floor, laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

Garland didn't say anything. He drew his sword, the _shing_ of the metal scraping against the sheath brought the laughter to a near standstill. Sami was still snickering here and there, but seemed in control of herself. Tom pulled out his sword and shield, assuming a defensive position. Lily had her rapier out, and Sami had her hammer ready. Nate still had his staff out from the last battle, ready.

Then the battle began.

Garland was, despite his weak threat, an excellent swordsman. He was holding off Tom and Lily easily, and sent Sami flying without skipping a beat. She hit the wall with a dull _thud_ and fell down. It appeared Garland was fulfilling his threat to knock them all down.

Nate knew he had to do something. But how did the spell go? He watched as Lily went flying against a wall, and Tom was hard pressed to keep up. Nate said the first thing he thought of, right as Tom went flying.

There was an explosion, with fire and lightning searing the air as they slammed into Garland. He was lifted off his feet and thrown against a wall. Garland breathed hard for a few seconds, then vanished.

Nate stared in amazement. He had beat Garland by botching a spell. Wow.

Tom, Lily and Sami were standing again, sore and bruised but quite alive. They were looking pretty surprised and pleased.

"Good thing we brought you along." Tom said, smiling, "You beat enemies without even knowing the spell."

"We'll have to be careful with him, though." Sami smirked.

"Why, you think he'll turn on us?" Lily asked, surprised.

"'Course not." Sami replied, looking offended, "We just can't let him know any ice spells. Imagine what would happen then."

"Really big boom." Nate said, "Ice plus electricity plus fire makes a really big boom."

"How would you know?" Sami asked.

"I...I don't know. I just know that ice and fire makes water, water and electricity makes a kind of gas, and fire sets off the gas, making a really big explosion." Nate said. Then he grasped his head, doubled over from pain. The rest of the party was worried, but Nate didn't see them.

He was standing on a street, with people around him. They were nice, he knew, but he didn't know how. They were calling, and he was walking down the street in a costume. A parade.

Then he was in a large room. People were seated in the many chairs, facing the person in front. They were speaking about something, but he didn't catch it.

He found himself in a tent, staring at the ceiling. There was some creaking outside, the wind. Then he was back in the Temple of Fiends, with the people he had been traveling with.

They looked concerned. "Are you okay?" Tom asked, giving him a hand up.

"I think so." Nate said, "That was weird. It was like...a flashback or something."

"Great." Sami said, smirking, "Our Black Mage is going insane."

"Ha ha." Nate grumbled, "But this may be a part of my past. Something I _don't_ remember that _doesn't_ involve magic. Something that I should remember. Something I can't."

"Oh. Sorry." Sami replied.

"It's fine. Just wish I could remember it. But that's not important. Let's get the Princess." Nate said.

Remarkably, Princess Sara was still asleep. Tom shook her gently and she stirred, then opened her eyes. She looked at them and, in a tone that implied waking from a deep sleep, said, "You're not Garland."

"No, we're not." Tom said.

"Then you're here to rescue me." She said in a matter-of-fact voice. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, stretched, and stood up. "Let's go."

The way back to Cornelia was easy enough. It seemed that the goblins had spread word of a mad mage that could destroy armies. Not that they complained any. The only one that even looked unhappy was Tom. He kept on putting others between himself and Sara, who kept on shooting him flirty looks. He managed to find a short period where he could avoid Sara by talking to Sami.

"I told you he would be useful." He said quietly to her.

Sami glanced at him, then discretely at the Princess, then whispered, "Trying to dodge Sara, right?" then, louder, "Yeah yeah yeah, rub it in. Besides, we only won because he mixed up two spells. That doesn't prove anything." Then, quietly again, "Though he really was quite spectacular."

"Well, whatever. Look, Cornelia is just ahead." Tom replied. "You can see the castle towers from here."

Indeed, the tall towers were proudly standing over the trees of the woods that surrounded the city. A guard greeted them, and soon the word was out that the Princess was back and that the Light Warriors had appeared. They were ushered into the throne room, where the overjoyed king thanked them profusely. Unfortunately, the treasury was locked with a magic key. The key was in the possession of the Elf Prince, who was cursed to eternal sleep. But if they could get the key, then they could take anything from the treasury they wanted. But, of course, they needed the key. Which they didn't have. Naturally.

Princess Sara, still crushing on Tom, held out a lute. "It's not much," she said, "but I'd like you to have this. It's been in the family for 2000 years, but I think you'll need it." There was something to the last sentence that hinted that she knew something more than she let on.

"Uh...thanks." Tom said. She was still looking at him in a way that might as well have had "crush" written all over her face. Because of this, nobody noticed Sami look almost desperate to get hold of the lute. But again, everybody was focused on Sara and the lute.

"The bridge to the north was repaired in your absence." the king said, "The quickest, or at least, the easiest way to get around the continents is by ship. You can get one from the ports in Pravoka. They usually have a captured pirate's vessel that will serve your purpose. Go in peace, and may the Light defend you."


	6. A Witch

Chapter 5: A Witch

The Light Warriors went north, following the remains of a road that had not been used for centuries. But the road ended abruptly, and there was no indication as to which way they were supposed to go. The road faced a mountain, and there was a way both north and west.

"So, which way do we go?" Nate asked.

"I say west." Lily said, "I recall the ships from Pravoka coming from the west."

"Well, I say north." Sami chimed in, "All the maps I've seen say we go north for several more miles, then we go west."

"I don't care." Tom said, "If one way isn't it, the other is. Nate, what do you think?"

The Black Mage looked like a brick had hit him. "Which...which way? Uh..." he looked both ways, then said, "North. The way looks easier, and the traveling should be fast."

"North it is." Tom said. He strode off in the direction indicated and the party tromped off.

The traveling really was fairly easy, mostly grass plains and light forests, but no westerly paths opened up.

"I think we're lost." Lily said.

"No, of course not." Sami said, "I know exactly where we are."

"Where?" asked Nate.

"Lost." Sami said, "Where else do you think we could be?"

"Well," Nate said as a few drops of rain fell on his hat, "I would say in a storm."

He had no more said this than lightning split across the sky and rain poured down as the thunder pulsed the ground.

"Find shelter!" Tom called over the thunder. Nobody said anything. They didn't need to.

They searched for shelter for several minutes, but found nothing until Tom pointed towards a dark spot on the side of a cliff and called, "Cave!" They ran towards the cave, dashing in as lightning touched down nearby.

The cave appeared to be occupied. Torches lit the cave and a door testified to a room. Quietly they entered.

The room was full of stuff. There really wasn't a better word for it, just stuff. Animal skulls, vials, books, a harmonica, some canned meats and vegetables, chests, pots, and who knows what else. Near the back of the room was the only other person in the cave.

A short, stout witch was feeling around, eventually getting to her chair. She looked straight at the Light Warriors, who stood rooted to the spot, but it quickly became obvious she couldn't see them.

"Alright." she said, "I know someone's in here. I can't see you, but I can hear you. Speak up or I'll curse everything in this room."

The warriors jumped, but Tom quickly regained his composure. "We are the Light Warriors. We were traveling to Pravoka when we got lost, then a storm picked up, and we took refuge in this cave. We apologize if we disturbed you, but we ask to remain here until the storm ends."

"Oh. Fine. You can stay until the storm stops, but would you be willing to do an old witch a favor?"

It was obvious Sami was biting her tongue (a trickle of blood dripped from her lip) but Tom replied, "That depends on the favor."

The witch chuckled. "Smart child. I am Matoya. I was born eighty-seven years ago, blind as a bat. For years I stumbled around, never knowing where anything was. Then, one day, a witch from a neighboring town visited my town. She saw me, then a young girl of twelve, being teased and taunted by other children. She gave me a crystal eye, a crystal ball that grants its owner sight. But the eye was stolen from me not a month ago. Please, if you come across it, would you bring it back?"

Before Tom could answer (and to everyone's surprise) it was Sami who spoke. "Was the witch's name Samantha Goldenfrond?"

Matoya looked surprised. "Yes, it was. Have we met before?"

"No." Sami said, "We haven't met before. But Samantha Goldenfrond was my great-grandmother."

Matoya smiled slightly. "Ah, so you're Sami Rosethorn." Now there was a bit of pity in her sightless eyes. "How have things been these last few years?"

Sami stiffened. "Rough. But since I joined up with these guys, I've been better."

Everyone else seemed confused by this, but nobody had time to ask about it. Matoya asked Sami, "What kind of people are these? I can hear them, but what else?"

"Tom is the one that spoke before. He's a Fighter. Lily is a Red Mage, my best friend. Nate is the newest member of our group. He's a...a Black Mage. But he's nice and has no memory of his past. Actually, Nate's been quite useful, even if all his successes have been from accidents."

"A four-leaf-clover of a teammate then. And what about Tom and Lily?" Matoya asked.

Tom, Lily, and Nate, sensing a long discussion, backed off. Tom and Lily were discussing supplies, trying to figure out how they were going to acquire a ship. Nate sat in a corner memorizing his spells.

But it only took a few moments for Nate to become distracted. The cave was full of brick-a-brack, and he constantly caught himself glancing up at the myriad of stuff. For some reason he found himself looking at a mirror fairly often. It wasn't a fancy mirror, rather plain-looking really, but he couldn't stop looking at it.

He finally gave up. He stuffed his scrolls in his pack and approached the mirror. It seemed to draw him in, and he reached out one gloved hand and touched the frame.

There was a blaze of light, and Nate was floating through a vortex. Then he was in a room. People, he assumed elves, were standing around a bed. An elf was lying in the bed, and he looked like he hadn't been awake for a long time. Then he was in a run-down keep, and a fat elf (a fat elf? There was such a thing?) was sitting on a throne. He was holding a crystal orb, and was looking into it. Then he saw a city with ships moored at the dock. Pravoka. There was a ship with black sails, though he saw no more.

He found himself lying on his back, on the opposite side from the mirror. Tom, Lily, and Sami were looking down at him. Matoya was looking in the general direction, though she still couldn't see him. Sami had a look that could kill from a hundred paces and annihilate at ten.

"And what did you think you were doing?" she scolded.

"Uh...looking at a mirror?" Nate replied.

"And what did you see?" Matoya asked.

Nate told them about the bedridden elf, the fat elf at the run-down keep, and the ship with black sails at Pravoka. The whole time Sami glared, Tom and Lily nodded attentively, and Matoya listened. When he had finished, Matoya asked, "Do you understand what you saw?"

"Uh...I...no, no I don't understand. Except for the bedridden elf. He's the prince, right? The King of Cornelia mentioned him."

"Yes, he is the Prince of the Elves." Matoya said, "And the city with the ships is Pravoka. I believe the mirror showed you where you're supposed to go. And if it showed you so much, time is of the essence. You have no more time to sit and chat. I'll send you straight to Pravoka."

She raised her hands in preparation for the teleport spell, then said, "Good luck, Light Warriors, and farewell, Sami Rosethorn!"

The Warriors of Light didn't have time to reply, as there was a flash of light and they were gone.


	7. A Pirate and a Ship

Chapter 6: A Pirate...and a Ship

When their eyes cleared, they found themselves near the gates of a city. Not far away were several ships. One, an impressive ship by all rights, had black sails. The wind picked up and they could see it's flag.

It had the skull and crossbones on it.

Quietly, trying to look like a group of travelers, they entered the city.

They were surprised by how many people were out and about, despite the pirate ship moored just outside their gates. But the people looked scared, and didn't waste time standing around and talking.

"Let's go check the magic shops." Lily suggested, "We might learn something there."

As they approached the Black Magic shop, they noticed a sign with the White Magic symbol on the door.

"Temporarily moved here during remodel." Tom read. "Looks like everyone gets their spells together today." Everyone else nodded and entered the building.

There was quite a stark contrast between the Light and Dark sides of the room. The White magic spells were neatly lined up and categorized, with clear labeling. The Black magic part was almost ordered chaos. Scrolls lay everywhere, unmarked except for the scribbles on the scrolls themselves.

Two mages, one white and one black, hurried up to them. "How may we help you?" they asked in unison.

"We're just looking for some spells to help us on our travels." Tom said.

"Excellent." the black mage said, "Now, if you'll come with me, I'll show you around." Nate followed the mage towards the piles of spells.

"Likewise." the white mage motioned to Sami and they went to the ordered stacks. Lily looked between the two and then joined Sami. Tom took a seat and read his "Proper Care for Plate Armor" manual while he waited.

On the black magic side of the room, Nate and the black mage were discussing spells.

"From the looks of you, you're ready for these spells." the black mage said, pointing to a pile. Then, in a whisper, "You and your friends here to challenge the pirates?"

"So that's why nobody's talking outside." Nate whispered back.

"Duh. Anybody tell you you're as dense as lead?"

"Well..." Nate thought, "Not in those exact words."

"Good. Now, as for spells, I like to give my customers a freebie. Good for business, you see. I think this should be a good one." the black mage handed Nate a small scroll from the stack. On it, in small writing, was written "Dark."

"It's a useful spell for quick getaways, or bringing your enemies to, or hopefully below, your level. Now, for firepower, I would recommend Blizzard."

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" came Sami's voice from the other side of the shop, "He is NOT to get Blizzard, unless we want to get blown to the moon!"

"I tend to mix up spells." Nate explained, "I took out a horde of imps by saying a spell backwards. But with a little practice and memorization, there shouldn't be any problems."

"Oh no you don't!" Sami called as she swung her hammer around. It flew towards Nate, who instinctively crossed his arms. Lightning arced and formed a barrier, deflecting the hammer towards Tom. He didn't even look up as he raised his shield. There was a _CLANG_ and the hammer fell to the floor.

"Temper, temper, Sami." Tom said neutrally. Sami simply glowered as she retrieved her hammer.

The black mage handed Nate the Blizzard spell when Sami wasn't looking. "Take it. That's entertaining enough to be worth a single scroll." Then, looking back and forth furtively, said, "Your girlfriend's pretty feisty. Those are the ones to watch for."

"Wha...what?" Nate sputtered, "She's not my girlfriend! You'd better not say that in front of her, or she might take her hammer to you." Then, much quieter, "She's really, really good with that hammer. She did as much damage to the imp horde as I did. I just did it louder."

"I'll take your word for it." the black mage said.

On the other side of the room...

"I apologize for the lack of variety." the white mage said, "The real reason I'm here is because the pirates torched my shop."

"I'm sorry about your shop." Sami said as Lily came over.

"It's not too bad." the white mage replied, "Luckily Markus didn't have any problems with temporarily merging our shops. But that's beside the point. Now, all my healing spells were destroyed by the fire, but I do have two that I think you'll find interesting."

Right as the white mage pulled two spell scrolls from their cubbyholes, the black mage's voice reached them. "Now, for firepower, I would recommend Blizzard."

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Sami called back, "He is NOT to get Blizzard, unless we want to be blown to the moon!"

Sami had yelled so suddenly that the white mage had dropped the spells.

"Sorry." Sami said, "He gets spells confused. Nearly killed all of us once. He won the battle, but as I said, it almost killed everyone."

Right then, Nate's voice, barely audible, said, "But with a little practice and memorization there shouldn't be a problem."

Something in Sami snapped. She whipped the war hammer off her back and, with surprising strength, threw it at Nate.

She was pretty shocked by what happened next. Almost as if from instinct, Nate assumed the Mars, or defensive magic position. Lightning arced from him, intercepted her hammer, and flung it away...

Towards Tom.

But Tom just raised his shield, deflecting the hammer. "Temper, temper, Sami." he said. That was it. Now she was seething, not from Tom's remark or Nate's reaction, but from her lack of control. She was a white mage. White mages were not violent.

Irritably, she retrieved her hammer. While she was coming back, she saw Lily buy a scroll from the white mage. Not paying any attention to the transaction, Sami apologized.

"I'm sorry." she said, "I shouldn't have lost my temper. I just don't want to have to clean up the mess."

The white mage nodded, almost skeptically. "Pay it no mind. But if you act like that all the time, you'll end up like your friend over there. Darkness, unable to do anything but destroy. No matter how much they want to heal, to help, they can't use magic to do it." she sighed, then said, "But you didn't come here to listen to me ramble. The two scrolls I was going to show you were Blindna and Silence. Blindna cures magical blindness, while silence prevents an enemy from casting spells. Both are useful and, I hope, fairly priced."

Sami looked at the scrolls, then the prices, and said, "I'll take them. I've got the nagging feeling I'll need them."

"Very well." the white mage said, dropping the two scrolls into a bag and handing it to her. Sami counted out the coins and passed them to the shop keeper, who put them in a box.

Sami and Lily returned to Tom, and the three began discussing the next step: trying to acquire a ship, or taking out the pirates. After about ten minutes Nate handed the black mage shopkeeper some gold and joined the group.

"And what took you so long?" Sami asked peevishly. She was still upset over her outburst.

"We were just talking." Nate answered. He didn't sound angry at Sami in the least. "Listen. Did you hear about how a group of pirates are running this town?"

Everyone nodded.

"Well, I was thinking. What if we took out these pirates? Once they had been jailed, the authorities would put the ship up for auction or just sell it. We could then buy it. Everyone wins. Well, except the pirates, but I'm not counting them."

"Good plan." Tom said.

"One problem." Lily continued.

"There's a lot more of them than there are of us." Sami finished.

"Ah, but they have to spread out to make sure their authority is kept. So we won't face many at a time." Nate replied.

"Ambush." Lily said.

"Yes."

"Alright." Tom said, "Learn your spells. We're going to need them."

They spent the night at the inn, during which Nate didn't sleep much at all. He sat on his bed, thinking. He tried to sleep, he really did, but something kept coming back to him. A part of his conversation with the black mage at the shop.

"Why can I see your face?" Nate had asked.

"You can see most black mages faces. You're the first I've ever seen with a black veil so strong all I can see is your eyes."

"Is it...bad?"

"I don't know. But I can tell you, be careful. A veil as strong as yours might be a natural thing. Then again, it might be a bad omen."

Bad omen...bad omen...

The thought kept racing around through his head. He eventually got out the scrolls with his spells on them and worked on cementing them to his memory. It was like this that he fell asleep, muttering bits of the Darkness spell.

The next morning came too early for anyone's liking. Tom roused them and went with Nate to get breakfast while Lily and Sami got dressed. None of them cared (or even noticed) that Nate always slept in his traveling clothes, but he wasn't about to tell them he couldn't take them off. After an hour of trying to take off his hat he had given up. As for Tom, well, he rose before the sun even thought about coming up.

A half-hour later, Tom and Nate returned with some sweet-rolls, which Lily and Sami gratefully accepted. Last night's "dinner" of dried jerky and nearly-as-dry bread was not that great.

They left the inn around ten o'clock and began searching out their targets. If all went well, they would know how the pirates moved around and could begin picking them off.

Of course, nothing goes as planned.

One pirate spotted them and swaggered over. "Hey, babe." he said to Lily, "Why don't you toss these landlubbers overboard and have some real adventure with me?"

"Thanks, but no thanks." Lily replied, "I'm quite fond of these 'landlubbers.' "

"I don't think yeh understood me." the pirate growled, "Yer coming with me."

"And I don't think you understood me." Lily replied, "No, I'm not."

"Yes, yeh are!" the pirate said and grabbed her arm.

"Now, one would think that a 6'6" 300 lbs mountain of muscle would have an advantage over a 5'4" 110 lbs young woman. Initially this was true. But less than two seconds into the fight, the pirate did the dumbest thing he could.

In the confusion of the melee, he grabbed Lily's chest.

Her face turned as red as her cape, and with surprising speed and strength for someone of her slight stature she kicked, flipped, disarmed, and pinned the offending pirate before Tom had even drawn his sword.

"Never." Lily said, panting but still dripping venom from every word, "Never. Touch. Me. Like. That. Again. Ever." Her rapier was less than a centimeter from the pirate's left eye.

Surprisingly, he didn't squirm. Instead, he smiled.

""HEY, BIKKE!" he hollered, "We've got a tough one!"

Another pirate approached. This one had possibly twelve more behind him. Fourteen, the average crew of the pirate raider moored in the harbor.

"Waddya do this time, Crek you idiot. Did you touch another girl?"

Crek didn't have time to answer. "Ne'r mind. Can't have me crew pushed around. Mateys, make their bones go crunch."

But before the pirates could do anything, Nate raised his hand...

and the world went dark.

Unfortunately, Nate had botched the spell. He blinded the pirates alright. He had also blinded Tom, Lily, Sami, and himself.

"Nate, you idiot!" Sami called from the mists, "Can't you get it right just once?"

Nate suddenly realized he could see. It was as if a light was coming from around him, no, from him. He pulled out his orb, and the amount he could see increased. Like a torch in the dark, the orb lit the area around him.

"Pull out your orbs!" Nate called. Three spheres of light appeared, bringing his friends into view.

"Well, at least something good happened." Lily said.

Sami replied, "It gets better." she recited the Blindna spell, and the world became light again.

The pirates were in a dog pile, apparently confused enough by the dark that they fought each other. Bikke looked stunned, then terrified.

"Please, don't hurt me!" he said as the four Light Warriors approached, "Yeh can have me ship, just don't hurt me! I'll be good from now on, and me mateys too, just don't hurt me!" Strangely, he was looking at the wall.

It took them a minute to realize Bikke had been blinded too. After tying the pirates up and tossing them in jail, Bikke (with several guardsmen) took the Light Warriors to the dock to show them their new ship.

Surprisingly, Bikke's ship wasn't the large raider with the black sails. His was smaller. Much smaller.

"The big un's my crew's." Bikke explained, "Four people couldn't man 'er. But mine's smaller. Carry's up ta five people, can be manned by one. Perfect for adventurous types like yeh lot."

Bikke's (former) ship, _Maiden's Voyage, _was a sleek vessel, much smaller than the raider Sloop _Joha._ They looked over the ship from head to toe, port to starboard, fore to aft.

It was perfect. Within the next two hours, they were sailing off.


	8. Sailing with Pirates

Chapter 7: Sailing with Pirates

It turned out Lily was a natural sailor. In the two hours before they left Pravoka she had mastered all the basics of running their new skiff. Nate had found the maps and navigation equipment and had it all figured out before anyone else could even hold it right. Between the two, they were sure they could get anywhere.

Problems come unbidden however, and the first appeared only twenty minutes into sailing.

"Sami, are you okay?" Tom asked.

Sami was leaning over the side railing. She looked up at Tom, her face green, then suddenly leaned over again and retched.

Nate stepped out of the cabin. "Everything alright up here? I thought I heard someone retching." He caught sight of Sami and said, "Oh dear." He paused, looked thoughtful (well, his eyes seemed to look up and to the left) then ran off to the store room.

A few minutes later he returned with a glass of somewhat brownish liquid, which he offered to Sami. "Ginger water." Nate explained, "It helps with upset stomachs." Sami dank some, made a face of disgust, then finished it.

"It burns." she said.

Nate handed her a canteen of water. "I know. But it was either that or chewing the root itself."

"Fine." she said, accepting the canteen.

A few minutes later the green tinge left Sami's face. "Thanks." she said, "Not as good as being on land, but better than without." Then she looked at him suspiciously. "How did you know that?"

"I don't know. It just came to me. So I went to the storeroom to get some, and found the recipe for ginger water. Since the ginger and water were the only ingredients, I figured it was safe."

"Ginger water. Duh. Why didn't I think of that?" Sami said, smacking herself on the head.

"Probably because you were too busy heaving your guts out." Tom said.

Sami shot him a glance, then left for the cabins.

Nate turned to Tom. "Why is she like that?"

Tom looked slightly confused. "Like what?"

"I mean, why is she always so...hard to get along with?" Nate replied.

"Ah." Tom looked the black mage over. "I'm not the one to tell you, that's something she's got to do. But I can say this: her life has been really difficult, starting at a very young age. That's all I can tell you."

"Must have been bad." Nate said, looking thoughtful.

"It was. But if she hasn't told you, I'm not going to. Neither will Lily, so don't ask."

"Alright." Nate answered, "I won't delve any deeper."

"Well, I'd better get back to work. Captain Lily wants me to swab the deck." Then, in a lower voice, "Don't know who made her captain, but..."

"I heard that!" Lilly's voice trailed from the helm.

Tom winked at Nate, then left for the cleaning closet. Nate just looked around for a few seconds, then clambered up to the crow's nest.

The sun had long set, and Nate was still up in the crow's nest. The sea looked almost the exact same as when he had started: empty. Just that now, it was dark too. He looked around one more time, and was about to see if someone would take over for him when he thought he saw something on the horizon. He peered through the telescope and his fears were confirmed.

A pirate ship was there, and it was heading straight towards them.

"Nate!" Nate almost had a heart attack and nearly fell from the crow's nest.

"Hey!" Sami called, Don't kill yourself!"

"Pirates! Nate called, "Thirty degrees to starboard!"

"Oh crap." Sami said, pulling out her hammer.

"You said it again!" exclaimed Lily as she hurried from the cabin. "You always saw that when you don't see something first!"

"Well, get used to it." Sami replied as Tom rushed from the cabin, sword unsheathed.

"Where's the pirates?" he asked.

Nate, now precariously hanging upside down by his feet, called, "Thirty degrees to starboard, closing fast!"

Lily was at the helm. "I'm taking evasive maneuvers!" she said, "Let's see if this thing is as good as Bikke claimed!"

The sudden change in course jerked Nate's boot from its hold on the rope. He fell, grabbed another rope, slid down it, fell, hit the deck, and rolled into the storeroom and the bin that held the ash from the galley.

Meanwhile, on deck, it was obvious the maneuvers weren't going to work. The pirates managed to pull alongside and were boarding. This time Nate wasn't there to blind them, and the three were being kept busy. Sami's hammer swung back and forth, knocking the occasional pirate into the water. Tom was dueling three more, and Lily's rapier sang as she battled the lead pirate.

Two more pirates charged into the storeroom, intent on grabbing anything they could find. What they found, however, was not what they expected.

Two glowing, yellow eyes appeared from the back. The two froze, unsure what it was. Then two fireballs appeared.

There was nothing else to it. They ran.

"Well." came Nate's voice as the fireballs went out, "I didn't think that would work." there was the 'thump thump' of footsteps, and then figure of a very sooty black mage slipping out the door.

Back up on deck, things weren't looking great. While only half the pirates remained on the skiff, the half remaining were the strongest. Sami was wearing down, and Tom and Lily were slowing the speed of their attacks.

Sami lost the grip on her hammer, and it fell to the deck with a _thump!_ Two pirates, grinning evilly, started to bare down on her.

Nate, now back in the crow's nest and as sooty as ever, saw this. He had just finished tying a rope around his waist, and was standing on the railing.

"I can't believe I'm about to do this." he muttered. He braced himself, then jumped.

He went pretty far to the side, like he had planned. Then, like a pendulum, he started swinging back. He howled, igniting two fireballs in his hands, and slammed into the two pirates who were assaulting Sami.

The force of his attack sent them flying back onto the pirate ship. Nate's rope ran out, and he swung back. He knocked two more pirates off this round, then on the return he blasted the pirate leader. But instead of swinging back, the rope snapped.

Nate sailed through the air, landing in the pirates' sails. He still had his hands ignited, and this set off the sails.

Nate, for the second time that night, went flying down ropes and into a storeroom.

The pirates, however, were abandoning ship. Both of them.

Lily, now free from the fight, took the helm and steered them away from the burning pirate ship.

"What are you doing?" Sami cried, seeing their course change, "Nate's still on that thing!"

"That ship has gunpowder on it!" Lily replied, "When that fire hits it, the ship's going to blow apart! And if we're too close, we'll go with it!" Then, quieter, Lily counted down. "Three...two...one..."

The pirate ship exploded in a ball of fire, sending shrapnel everywhere. Lily barely managed to get the skiff away before the shrapnel began raining down.

"Oh...no..." Sami said softly as the pirate ship blazed and burned.

"Rest in peace." Tom said, looking toward the burning wreck.

For two hours they watched the burning ship as it sunk, then vanished. The sun had started to rise before they reluctantly started to turn back to the task of running the ship.

Sami was in the crow's nest, looking back at the spot where Nate had met his fiery death. 'Why did you do that?' she thought, as if talking to Nate, 'Why did you go off and kill yourself?'

'Oh, this is stupid. He was a black mage. He deserved what he got, right? Well, he _had_ saved their lives. But he always messed up those spells. He was so clueless.' Unbidden, a slight grin appeared on her face. 'Uh, why am I smiling?' she asked herself, 'His cluelessness was annoying...wasn't it?' Or was it, really deep down, funny? She shook her head, clearing her mind of such thoughts, and focused of searching the seas.

She was looking to their rear when something caught her eye. A small craft, barely larger that a rowboat but with a small sail, was racing towards them.

"Small craft approaching from the rear!" Sami called down to Lily. "Small, slightly larger than a rowboat, with a sail."

"Oh great." Lily replied, "More trouble."

Sami clambered down from the crow's nest and Tom emerged from the cabins.

Strangely, the tiny ship made no attempt to contact them. It simply got closer.

The design was unusual. The sail was attached directly to the hull in several strategic places. There was no real way to see around it to see who or what was on board.

The small craft pulled alongside, and there was a collective gasp from the three Light Warriors.

"Hi guys!" Nate called from the boat, "Mind if we come aboard?"

"We?" Tom asked, "You and who else?"

"You can come out, Maron." Nate said, looking into the sail.

A young girl, no more than thirteen, appeared. She wore sandals, with baggy pants going from her ankles to her waist. A buttoned-up vest was the only thing she wore over her torso, exposing her toned arms. A bandana tied around her head kept her long brown hair from getting into her large brown eyes.

"Alright." Lily called, "But she'd better not cause any trouble, or she walks the plank." Maron smiled slightly from the threat, but didn't say anything.

A line was thrown to Nate, who secured it after taking down the sail. A rope ladder was sent next, and the two clambered up onto the _Maiden Voyage's_ deck.

"So," Tom said once everyone was on deck, "Tell us how you survived it."

"Well," Nate replied, "The first thing appears to be that I'm fire-proof. At least, that's the only way I can think of that explains why I'm not dead.

"After I hit the sails, I fell down and snagged on a bunch of ropes. I rolled, fell, and eventually flew into the pirates' storeroom. I got back on deck right as the powder exploded. I landed in the ocean. Several minutes later, Maron fished me out. She escaped during the chaos, taking the captain's personal boat. I told her about you, and we spotted you, then we took off to catch up. And now, here we are."

"And what's your story?" Sami asked Maron.

Maron's voice was surprisingly melodic. "I was born in a small fishing village on the west edge of the Eastern Continent. When I was eleven, pirates attacked my village. They kidnapped me, plundered what little we had, and killed the rest." The tiniest glimpse of a tear appeared in the corner of her eye, but she blinked it away. "I was taught how to run the ship by the pirates. Two years of hard work, scrubbing decks and steering the ship. Fixing sails, cooking, stopping up leaks, those were just a few of my duties. If I didn't do them, I was whipped.

"I wanted to escape. No chance ever appeared. None, until last night. Nobody put up such a fight since I was abducted, and I took advantage of it. I got on the captain's dingy and shoved off while the pirates were busy with you. After the ship exploded, I searched the wreckage for anything valuable. I pulled him out." She finished by pointing at Nate. "Best thing I ever found." A smile covered her face, reflecting her (most likely) impish nature.

"Speaking of valuable, I was able to grab something from the pirate ship before I left it." Nate said, reaching into his bag, "I felt like it was important, though I don't know why." In his hand was an ornately carved box. An engraving of a rose covered the center of the lid, its branches reaching across the sides.

Sami looked shocked. "That...that can't be...can I see it?"

Nate handed her the box. Fingers trembling, Sami opened it and took out what was inside.

In her hand lay a bracelet, silvery and covered in engraved vines. A rose was detailed on the top, similar to the one on the box.

"It...it is." Sami said breathlessly, "It's my family's heirloom." She grabbed it as if to bend it, but it wouldn't. "Made of pure mythril, it was supposed to represent the family strength. A strength that lies with me alone. But how would pirates get this? They weren't the ones..."

She didn't say any more. The rest kept their silence, until Lily broke it.

"So...Nate did something right?" she asked.

To everyone's surprise, Sami hugged Nate. Then, also to their surprise, she punched his arm.

"The hug was for bringing this back." she said, "The punch is for making us think you were dead."

"Can't argue." Nate said, rubbing his arm, "But I do have a question."

"What's that?" Tom asked.

Nate's eyes seemed to be smirking. "When's breakfast? Those sweet rolls in Pravoka were a long time ago."


	9. Lily's Story

Chapter 8: Lily's Story

It was late in the evening and Lily was at the wheel. The sun was setting on the horizon, painting the ocean with its bright reds, oranges, and golds.

She took a deep breath. The sunset was always more beautiful over the seas, and this one was one of the best she had ever seen.

The cabin door opened, and Maron slipped out. She went to the fore of the ship and gazed out over the ocean. Lily watched her for a moment, then checked to make sure they were still going the right direction.

However, even after an hour of checking, changing, and waiting, Maron was still looking over the sea. By now Lily was getting worried.

"Hey Lily."

Lily nearly flew off the ship in surprise. Sami chuckled.

"Spacing off?" she teased, "Don't tell me Nate's rubbing off on you."

"No, no, nothing like that." Lily replied, smiling in an embarrassed way.

Sami glanced over at Maron. "Why don't you go talk to her? It's my turn at the wheel anyway."

Lily smiled again, this time more warmly. "Thanks." she said, and turned the wheel over to Sami.

As she walked up to Maron, Lily became acutely aware of how unhappy she was.

"Hey." Lily said, "Mind if I join you?"

Maron didn't move or say anything, so Lily leaned against the rail beside her. For a moment they stood there in a companionable, if slightly awkward, silence.

"The ocean's beautiful, isn't it." Lily said softly.

Maron just nodded.

"You miss them, don't you."

Maron looked at Lily, who was looking back. Maron lowered her head again. "You mean my family, don't you."

It was not a question, so Lily didn't answer. Finally, Maron broke down.

"Yes," she said, "I miss them. My family, my friends, all of them dead. Lying on a beach, rotting, nothing but bones and ruins. They're dead, and I'll never see them again. I can't even say goodbye. They're gone, and I...I wish I was with them."

Lily was looking over the ocean again. "It's hard to loose family and friends." she said, "I can understand why you say that."

Maron looked up, angry now. "No, you don't! How could you? You've never been abducted by pirates! You've never stepped outside to see them, storming your little village! I watched them, watched them burn, kill, destroy. They grabbed me, brought me on board to replace one of their cabin boys. They tortured me, and the whole time I kept seeing them storm the village, smelled the burning flesh, see the blood run from my parent's lifeless bodies. You don't know what I've been through. You couldn't."

Lily was still watching the ocean. But instead of the defeated look Maron must have been expecting, a tear was rolling down Lily's cheek.

Maron was stunned. "You...you do know, don't you." she said softly.

Lily nodded. "I was nine." she said quietly, "They attacked without warning. I was separated from my parents, but I saw them stabbed. They put me on their boat, taught me how to run it. I learned about this one so fast because of what they taught me. But like the pirates Nate saved you from, those ones were cruel. I still have scars on my back from when they beat me with the cat-of-nine-tails. I'll carry them the rest of my life.

"But those wounds were nothing. I had nothing, no parents, no friends, naught but the clothes on my back. Then, one day, a warship appeared. They fired on the ship I was on, and it sank. I was the only survivor. The warship picked me up, gave me a good meal and clean clothes. But I was still hurt, and the crew knew it.

"Then I met several extraordinary people. As I was wandering the ship, I met a white mage. She was my age, and apprenticed to a powerful white wizard. We talked, and found that we had something in common. Both of us had lost family. Her story was even more brutal than mine, and it was only with her consolation that I survived the memory of those three years on that ship of pain.

"My story has a happier ending than does yours. I was walking through a market. I had recently become apprenticed as a red mage, and I needed some supplies. As I passed one stand, I thought I saw someone who looked familiar. He stopped as I did and, for a moment, we stared.

"'Papa?' I said. 'Lily?' he replied. It turns out that my parents had been saved, by the very white wizard whose apprentice I met on the boat. But, before we were reunited, there was something I learned that was very important."

Maron looked curious and slightly desperate. "What is it?"

Lily smiled slightly now. "Death is not the end. It is merely another step in a longer journey."

"Who told you that?"

"The white wizard's apprentice. The white mage at the wheel this very moment."

"You...you mean Sami was that white mage? But...but she seems so...rough."

Lily's smile broadened. "She is. But it's only her shell. Deep down, past the tough exterior, she's one of the kindest souls you can meet. But our losses were not as bad as hers were, and that's how she deals with it. She knows that she'll see them again someday, but the pain is still there and the wound of her heart still bleeds."

Maron smiled. "Thank you. For the first time in years, I've had hope."

Lily smiled and put her arm around Maron. For another hour they stood there like sisters, watching the moon as it crossed the sky.


	10. Reunion

Chapter 9: Reunion

"Land ho!"

Nate's voice rang with the long-awaited words. This was their seventh day at sea, and while any similar trips would take less time now that they knew the way, land was something they had been waiting for since Sami had first gotten seasick.

Maron was the first out on deck. She looked a lot better, now that she was getting three square meals a day of Tom's inexplicably good cooking and having one of Lily's spare shirts under her now open vest. "Somebody say land ho'?" she asked.

"You sure?" Lily called up to Nate.

"Yep!" Nate called back. "First green thing I've seen all day, excluding Sami's face!"

"I heard that!" Sami said as she emerged from the cabin, followed by Tom. She looked slightly green. "But I'll forgive you since you saw dear, sweet, precious earth."

"It gets better!" Nate called, "There's a port about ten degrees to starboard!"

"Yes!" Sami was literally jumping for joy.

It took them three hours to arrive at the port. Before they got too close, however, Lily mentioned something.

"We should ask before we pull in." she said, "It's not like we own the place."

Everyone agreed. Then they drew straws. Nate, Lily, and Maron would be going ashore. They boarded the small boat Maron had acquired and set off. They made land without much difficulty, but the village was deserted.

"Hello?" Lily called out, "We need to know if we can dock our ship here!" And suddenly, where there had not been a soul nearby before, they were surrounded.

The villagers were carrying a variety of weapons, everything from pitchforks and garden hoes to very nasty looking cutlasses.

"Pirates." spat an old woman, "Yer' not welcome here. You took everything you could last month. But not now. No! You make one move that we don't like, and we'll run yeh through. Now, put your hands up!"

They did exactly as they were told, but Nate had to open his mouth.

"We're not pirates." he said calmly, "We are merely travelers who need a place to dock while we conduct our business."

"Shuddup, you!" snarled a man with a spear. He stabbed Nate in the shoulder. Blood gushed from the wound, and with a groan Nate fell to his knees.

"You idiots!" screamed Maron, "These are the guys that _defeated_ the pirates! And him!" she said, pointing to Nate, "He destroyed their ship! I know! I was there!"

"I said shuddup!" the man nearly screamed. He pulled his spear back and was about to stab her when a large, strong hand grasped the spear. The man holding the spear back stepped forward with a woman at his side.

"Maron?" she asked, "Is that...can it be..."

"Aunty? Aunty Carol? You...you're alive?" Maron turned to the man, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. "Uncle Jeff? You're alive too?" And there, in front of the entire village, the three reunited family members broke down and cried.


	11. Horses and Hearts

Chapter 10: Horses and Hearts

In record time the _Maiden's Voyage_ was docked and her crew of five ashore. Maron was catching up with her aunt and uncle, while Tom and Lily haggled for supplies. Sami was in high demand, but she refused to see anybody until she was sure Nate wouldn't bleed to death.

"Is Sami still working on Nate?" Tom asked, "It's been almost an hour."

"The wound was deep." Lily said, somewhat more grave than usual, "I must be two, maybe three inches."

"Used to be, thanks to Sami." came Nate's voice from behind them. They whirled around to see a tired Nate and exhausted but pleased Sami behind them. "She's a miracle worker, no doubt about that."

Sami shrugged. "It wasn't that bad. No major veins, arteries, or muscles severed, just a lot of minor ones. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll take a quick rest before I start on the villagers." She walked away, leaving the rest standing there.

"Well," Tom said, "Lily and I have almost finished getting supplies. You look pretty tired. Take a rest until we're done. We'll find you then."

"Alright." Nate said. He wandered for a minute, then sat down under a tree. He dozed for a minute, then had the feeling he was being watched.

A young boy, about six years old, stood in front of him. He was holding something, but Nate couldn't tell what. For a moment they just stared at each other. Finally Nate broke the ice.

"Good afternoon." he said.

"Is it true black mages only have four fingers?" the child blurted.

Nate chuckled, then held up his hands. He flexed his fingers, showing they were all real. Then, he added, "Every black mage I've met had five fingers on each hand."

"Then...then you're just like everybody else?" the kid asked.

"Yep. Pretty sure, anyway." Nate looked at the child's hands. "What do you have there?"

The child opened his hands to reveal a toy horse. The craftsmanship was quite impressive, but the horse's head was broken off.

"May I see it?" Nate asked. The child handed it to him. The break was rough, difficult to fix without causing more damage. Unless...

"Do you want me to fix this for you?" Nate asked. The child nodded. "Is there any wood around here with a lot of sap?" The child nodded again and led him to an old, twisted tree. Sap had congealed along a gash in the trunk. Nate pulled out a knife and removed some of it, but not all from any one place.

"Why don't you just take all of it?" the child asked.

"Because sap is like the blood of a tree. What I'm doing is like picking at a scab. If you pull all of it off, it starts the bleed again. But, if you only pull a small part off, and don't open the wound, then the tree is not harmed and you get what you need. This three bears fruit, so it is even more important."

They returned to the village, where they got a piece of firewood with a flat side. Nate lit it near the bottom. He then placed the sap on the flat edge, which was at the top. The sap soon melted, and Nate took a stick and got some on it. He spread the hot sap on the broken toy and held the pieces firmly together. After a moment, the held out the toy, now whole and in one piece.

The boy took the toy and hugged it. "Thanks mister."

"You're welcome. Now off you go, before your mother gets worried."

The boy nodded and ran off. Nate put out the fire, gave the wood to the baker, and returned to his place under the tree.

They spent the night at Maron's aunt and uncle's house. It was cozy, if a bit cramped, but that didn't bother the Light Warriors. They were just glad to be off the ship.

Not everyone slept soundly, though. Sami tossed and turned, haunted by a dream. In her dream she was walking through a castle. Tom, Lily, and Nate were with her. They turned into a room, and there it was. The last orb, the only one left that they had to light. But a shadow raised itself from the floor, and it turned into Garland. Tom tried to rush him, but Garland's sword pierced Tom's armor and sent him flying, a sword wound through his heart. Lily tried to fence, but she too fell to Garland's sword. Nate launched a fireball, but Garland bounced it with his shield, sending it back at Nate. Nate was slammed into with his own fireball, and was sent flying backwards into the wall. A sickening crack as he hit headfirst guaranteed he wouldn't be getting up. Then Garland turned on her. He raised his sword...and she woke up.

She looked around. She was still in a house, lying on an old couch. Lily was still sleeping in the armchair. Maron was sleeping on two dining chairs, snoring softly. Tom was leaning against a wall, fast asleep. And Nate...wasn't there.

Silently, Sami got up and went to the window. The sky was clear and the moon was nearly full, so seeing wasn't a problem. Nate hadn't gone far anyway. He was near the shore, which was visible from where she was standing. She slipped outside.

Nate was talking to himself as he stared out over the sea. Sami missed part of it, but there were things she picked up that softened her hatred towards the black mage.

"Who am I?" Nate asked, apparently talking to the ocean, "Why am I here? What do all these memories mean?" He paused, for a moment, then continued. "What's my worth?" he asked, almost desperately, "What can I do right? Every good thing I've done here has been an accident. Garland was an accident. The imps were accidents. The pirate ship was an accident. Heck, Pravoka was an accident. What have I done right since I got here?"

"I don't know," Sami said, "I met a little boy who was happy you fixed his favorite toy."

Nate nearly fell off the rock on which he was sitting when she spoke. He spun around and again tottered dangerously.

"Whoa there Nate. Don't kill yourself." she had no more said it then the nightmare came back to her. She shook it off, and Nate hadn't seemed to notice.

"Oh, good evening Sami." he said once he caught his balance, "Er...um...I guess you couldn't sleep either?"

"Yeah." Sami said, trying to avoid the topic of nightmares. "I figured some good ocean air would help."

"It's nicer when you're not being tossed around, isn't it?" Nate said, chuckling. He motioned to the rocks near him and said, "Pull up a rock and tell me what's troubling you."

The statement caught her off guard. Surprising herself, she sat down next to him.

"So," he said, "what's on your mind? Not another nightmare I hope."

Sami was caught off guard again. "How would you know about my nightmares?" she asked, shocked and slightly indignant.

"I didn't, until just now. But the way you thrash in your sleep, it's not a hard guess."

Maybe he was smarter, and less oblivious, than she thought. "It's nothing." she said, somewhat defensively.

"Suit yourself." Nate replied.

For a few minutes they sat in a slightly awkward silence. Then Sami broke down. "Alright. I'll tell." Nate turned to her as she spoke. "I dreamed that we were at the last orb. We were about to light it, but Garland appeared. He...he killed Tom, Lily, and you. He was just about to kill me when I woke up." she chuckled slightly nervously. "But it's just a dream, right?" She looked at Nate, hoping that he would agree with her.

"For all our sakes, let's hope so." Nate answered solemnly. His attitude shocked Sami.

"So what's on your mind?" she asked, "You weren't this serious when we were in mortal danger."

Nate's eyes seemed to smile sadly. "Since I first woke in the inn at Cornelia, I've been worried. Worried that I was a bad person in my former existence. Ever since Pravoka, I've been having nightmares about becoming a bad person, of reverting to what I feared I might be." His eyes blinked, and Sami figured that, if she could see his face, a tear was falling. "I...I don't want that."

Sami shook her head and smiled. "You're denser than lead sometimes." she chuckled.

Nate chuckled a little too. "So I've been told."

"If you don't want to be a bad person, then don't be. You've been doing well so far. It's not your intentions to cause problems, it's your clumsiness, forgetfulness, obliviousness, cluelessness..."

"Gee, I've got a lot of 'ness'es." Nate said. The remarks didn't seem to offend him at all.

"Look, what I'm saying is, you can choose what you are. Maybe you were a bad person in your former life. But you're a good person now. Stick with that, and you'll be fine."

Nate sighed, the said, "Thanks. It means a lot to have someone say that to me. And, don't worry

about your dream. Garland won't get us. Not as long as I keep mixing up spells anyway."

Sami laughed, the first time she had laughed that Nate had ever really heard. It was quite beautiful. He wondered why she didn't laugh more.

"You know," she said, "this is a side of you I've never seen. Both weirder, yet more normal that you usually are."

"I think it's the moonlight. Or exhaustion. Maybe both. But don't worry." he assured her, "I'll be my normal self in the morning. But the moon is high, and we need to get some sleep. Good night, Sami. It was...refreshing...to talk to you without worrying about flying hammers."

"Don't worry." Sami said, grinning, "I'll be back to normal tomorrow too. Good night."

From the window Tom and Lily slipped back to their sleeping places. They knew eavesdropping was wrong, but they knew this would happen sooner or later. Thankfully, sooner.


	12. Chocobo Ride to Western Keep

Chapter 11: Chocobo Ride to Western Keep

They left early in the morning, though not before Aunt Carol insisted they have fourths of her delicious pancakes. Finally after much goodbye-ing and a promise to take good care of the ship, the Light Warriors were gone.

There was a road, a path really, that led to Elfheim and everybody was perfectly happy to just follow it. The sun was shining brightly, the birds were singing, and they looked like little more than a group of four out for a picnic.

_Rustle. Rustle._

Nothing could be as easy as it should. They froze, waiting to see what would come charging from the bushes to rip their arms off.

_Rustle rustle rustle._ Instead of imps, wolves, pirates, ogres, or other creeping things, it was a very big, canary-yellow bird. To some extent it resembled a chick, except that no one's ever seen a six-foot tall chick before. Soon three more approached, joining the first.

"Chocobo." Tom said quietly, "Incredibly fast, even the best stallion can't keep up. But they're nearly impossible to control."

There was a flash, a puff of smoke, and a click. Everyone looked at Lily, who was holding a funny box.

"Pictograph box." she explained, "It can make a picture very quickly...here it is!" In her hand was a thin slate. Depicted on it were the chocobo, real as life.

"It's magical, too!" Lily nearly squealed, "These are super-rare! The pirates must not have known its true value."

The whole time the chocobo watched them. Nate pulled out a leftover pancake from breakfast and approached them. One came closer to him, intrigued by the smell. Nate held out his hand. The chocobo grabbed the pancake in its beak and shot back to its companions. Each took a bite of the cake and seemed pleased. They came back to the group and nuzzled the warriors in appreciation.

Then, faster than the eye could see, they tossed the Light Warriors into the air and caught them on their backs. Then they took off, their surprised riders hanging on for dear life.

Tom was completely right. They couldn't have been going any slower than sixty miles an hour, and there was no way to control them. For half an hour the chocobo ran through the forest, finally stopping in a large clearing. Everyone dismounted, shaken but unhurt. Sami was furious.

"What were you thinking?" she nearly screamed, "It's at least two days of traveling to get back to where we were, and that's if we don't find trouble!"

Nate didn't respond. He was looking to the north end of the clearing. An ancient castle was there, nearly in ruins.

"Western Keep." Lily said.

"The keep from the mirror." Nate said.

The chocobo had run off, but nobody noticed. "This keep." Sami said, quietly, "This is the keep you saw?"

Nate nodded. "Yes."

"Well," Tom said, looking at the keep, "Destiny is calling. Let's not keep it waiting."

They entered the keep, which was nearly silent. After a few minutes they found the large, double-door entry to the throne room. Quietly, they entered.

No sooner had they entered than Nate tapped Tom's shoulder. Pointing discretely to the person on the throne, Nate whispered, "That's the fat elf from the mirror." Tom nodded.

"Greetings, friends." the fat elf said, "I am the kings of the elves." He must have seen their skeptical looks, because her continued. "I know it does not look like much, but not long ago this place was attacked by monsters. They nearly destroyed the keep, and I would've restored it by now but for the crown."

"What crown?" Nate asked. He didn't know why, but he had the sudden urge to reduce the king to a pile of ash.

"The crown was stolen by Astos, king of the Dark Elves" the king replied, "I would get it, but I am not strong enough. But you...you look like hardened and experienced adventurers. If you go south to Marsh Cave and return it to me, I will reward you handsomely."

"Group huddle." Tom said. They gathered together. "So," Tom whispered, "what do you think?"

"I don't trust him." Nate whispered, "He gives me the creeps."

"I don't either." Lily said, "But perhaps we should."

"Don't think we have much of a choice." Sami replied.

They broke the huddle, and Tom said, "Okay, we'll do it."

There was a flash of greed over the king's face, though it was gone before anyone could double-check. "Excellent. The cave is ten miles south of here. There might be some imps, wargs, and ogres around, but I don't think they'll give you much trouble. Now go, and please, bring back the crown."


	13. Marsh Cave

Chapter 12: Marsh Cave

The journey to Marsh Cave was uneventful, with not even an imp to slow them down. The cave itself was quite a different matter. For starters, it was a hole in the ground.

"So," said Tom, "who wants to go first?" Sami responded by shoving Nate forward. Nate, however, was already close to the hole. He lost his balance and fell in.

A moment later his voice wafted up. "I'm okay. I landed on something soft and...and it's trying to eat my leg! Back, back!" There was the sound of rushing fire, which spouted from the mouth of the cave like a fiery geyser. "It's okay." Nate finally said, "I got it." Tom tied a rope to a nearby tree and they shimmied down to join Nate.

"So," Nate began, "who's got the lantern?"

"I don't." Tom said.

"Not me." Lily added.

"What are you looking at me for?" Sami asked, "I thought you had it."

"Uh oh." Lily groaned.

"Well, no worries." Nate said after a moment, "To every solution there is a problem. We have the problem, so here's the solution." He raised his left hand slightly and a ball of fire appeared in it. Its warm glow gave them as much light as the lantern would have.

"How long can you keep that up?" Sami asked, slightly nervous.

"Don't know." Nate replied cheerily, "Probably as long as I can keep my hand up."

"Great." Sami muttered. Either Nate didn't hear it or he paid it no mind because he scanned the area, as if trying to decide which way to go.

"So...which way?" Nate asked.

"That way." Tom, Lily, and Sami said in unison. Each was pointing a different direction. They looked at each other, then at Nate. "Which way?"

"I don't know." Nate said. He looked around, then took a few steps...and fell into a hole.

There was a thud, a groan, and then a scuffling sound. "Apparently, down." Nate's voice came wafting through the hole.

Tom shrugged, then jumped down the hole. Lily followed suite, with Sami grumbling. They followed a path for a while, until it opened into a large room.

"Crud." Sami whispered.

They had walked into a room full of skeletons, and not just the ones content to lie on the floor. These ones were moving.

"Put out the light!" Lily hissed. Nate doused his fire.

"Maybe they didn't see us." Nate whispered softly.

As if in response hundreds of red, glowing eyes appeared in the darkness, all looking at them.

"Think they saw us." Sami said.

Hundreds of torches lit themselves in the hands of the skeletons, and they began to move towards the Light Warriors. Sami stepped forward and raised her hands. There was a flash, and a bright light shone on the skeletons.

They faltered, then stopped. They tried to shield their eyes with their bony hands, but it was to no avail. They fell over and disintegrated.

But the fight wasn't over. Visible in the torches of the now-dust skeletons, green slime was seeping up through the rough-hewn stone floor. Sami's eyes went wide, and she stumbled back.

"S-s-slimes." she gasped, "I h-hate s-slimes."

Something twinged in Nate. It was as if he suddenly knew what to do. He ran forward, tossing several torches behind him. Then, he focused all his power into one spell.

This was, by far, his most impressive fire spell to date. Yellow and blue flames filled the room, literally melting all the slimes in its wake.

The flames lasted an impressive thirty seconds, and the slimes burned for another thirty seconds. Nate was doubled over, hands on knees, panting.

"That...was...awesome!" Nate said excitedly. He spun around, his eyes, unusually bright and happy. "I didn't even mess up the spell!"

Sami's terrified expression had changed to a smirk, and she was unsuccessful in stifling a giggle. Nate sighed, his eyes dimming back to normal and a slightly disappointed look came to them.

"My hat's on fire, isn't it." he said blankly. Sami nodded, failing to stifle another giggle. Nate reached up and smothered it. Sami giggled again.

"Knock it off, Sami." Lily sternly scolded, "Remember, he did just save you from the slimes."

The smile was instantly wiped off Sami's face. "Sorry." she said, "Thanks."

Nate shrugged. "No offense taken. I just wish I could cast a spell without nearly killing one of you, lighting the forest on fire, or turning myself into a living candle." He picked up one of the torches he had saved from his flare and started walking. "I think we're supposed to go this way." he said. Without a word the others picked up a torch each and followed.

Mentally Sami slapped herself. Why had she done that? There wasn't anything funny about what happened. He had saved them from the slimes.

Nate suddenly stopped, and Sami nearly ran him over. When she saw what he saw, it was no surprise he stopped.

There were ogres, at least a dozen. They were all looking at the Light Warriors, and they were mad.

"Oh no." Lily groaned when she saw the creatures, "This is going to hurt."

Before anyone could do anything a warm, soft, pleasant breeze wafted through the room. It felt like a lazy summer afternoon, the kind where the only logical thing to do is take a nap. While nobody fell asleep, it did slow the ogres down. It was only after a few moments that they realized it was Nate causing this.

But he didn't stop there. In a soft, melodious, baritone voice he started singing. While no one could make out the words it was certainly a lullaby. And one by one, the ogres fell asleep.

Silent except for Nate's mysterious song, they tip-toed through the group of ogres and through the narrow passage.

When they were sure they were safe from the ogres they sat down. While the magic was wearing off, they still felt a little drowsy. Add the song Nate had sung and they were about to collapse like the ogres did.

Nate for one did collapse, and the magic he had put into the spell vanished. It was not unlike jumping into a lake after lying on the warm shore, and everyone snapped awake.

"You okay?" Tom asked, the second time since they had entered the cave.

"Fine." Nate said softly, "Just took a lot out of me, that's all." He stood up, shook his head, and started walking. He only made it a few steps before he stumbled and fell over again. He got himself into a sitting position, leaning against the wall. "Correction." he said, "I'll be fine in a few moments." He closed his eyes and his breathing became slow and regular.

Nobody said anything. They couldn't complain, he had gotten them through two-thirds of their problems since entering the cave. So for a few minutes they rested.

It only took five minutes for Nate to wake up, and they were again moving.

The next room they entered was even bigger than the last two. Scattered throughout were giant pillars, many of which had doors in them. In the dark they could see the eyes of various monsters, but they seemed to be avoiding the Light Warriors.

One door seemed to stick out, though there was no logical reason why. They entered the room.

Inside were two lines of boulders. In the center was a chest. "Betcha that's where the crown is." Nate said. He eased forward, grasped the lid, and flipped it open. He was greeted by four things flying out of the chest at him.

"Yip!" he jumped back, a bolt of lightning shooting from his hands. It hit the demon, ripping its head off...revealing a spring.

"Dummies?" Tom said quizzically, picking one of them up. It hung limply in his hand.

"Look at this." Nate said. He had picked up one and squished it into a cube roughly the size of a spare set of clothes. "Fold up nice, don't they." He crammed one into his bag after tying it up with some string.

"Piscodemon." Sami said, looking one over. "Impressive impersonations, anyway. The real things ain't so nice."

Nate had returned to digging in the chest. "Let's see...gold, a sword, two mouse skeletons, and...yes!" He straightened up, holding a crown in his hands.

"Great. Now the big question." Sami said.

Nate's eyes became puzzled. "What's that?"

Sami smiled. "How do we get out of here? We came through a hole in the floor."

"Oh." Nate's eyes fell.

"Up the other path." Tom replied, "With so many creatures down here, there must be a path back up."

"How are we going to find it?" Nate asked.

"Shouldn't we start by going back the way we came?" Lily suggested.

Tom nodded. "Right. Let's go."

They began retracing their steps, but just before they entered the room with the ogres Nate stopped them. "Something's not right." he said, "I don't like it. I'll go first."

"Why you?" Tom asked.

"Because I'm expendable." he said, handing Tom his bag. Before anyone could reply, he entered the room. No sooner had he done so than two big, purple hands grabbed him and lifted him up.

"Nate!" Sami cried. She and Lily nearly ran after him, but Tom held them back.

"Wait." he said. Carefully, staying just far enough in the cave to be out of reach, he watched. Sami and Lily quickly joined him.

The ogre holding Nate was big. Not a giant, but certainly big. He had lifted Nate up to his face.

"Sing." the ogre said in a gravelly voice.

"Wha...what?" Nate asked, flabbergasted.

"Sing song from before." the ogre said, "Sing song and we show you way out."

Nate glanced at Tom, Lily, and Sami. "Okay." he said, looking back at the ogre. "Just give me a moment." He closed his eyes and started to hum softly. At first he was slightly off-pitch, but soon he had the melody perfectly. Then he started to sing.

The song was the same one at the last time but, with the echoes from the cave walls, it was even more beautiful.

The ogres watched and listened while Nate performed. For nearly half an hour he sang, with melodies ranging from strong warlike marches to tender and soft romances. Fast and slow, loud and soft, he sang them all. Finally, he stopped. The ogre put him down.

"Bring friends." the ogre said, "This way out."

Nate motioned for them to be careful, but they marched out. They followed the large ogre up a path, through a few rooms, and then to the room with the rope they had hung as a way out.

"Thank you." Nate said.

"We like your song. Most ogres do not like songs. It least we can do." the ogre said, and with that it turned and lumbered off.

"Well." Sami said, still looking in the direction the ogre had gone, "Not so expendable now, are you Nate." She turned around to see what Nate would say. "Nate?"

She barely caught a glimpse of Nate's boot going over the hole. "Hey!" Sami called.

Everyone else had scrambled up the rope to see Nate, doubled over, near a tree. He saw them, then fell over shaking.

"No!" the rest of the Light Warriors were at Nate's side in less than a second, and Sami was looking him over.

"Poisoned." Sami said after a few seconds, "Green slime on the wound. It's amazing he lasted this long."

"That would explain the expendable comment." Lily said, "Can you help him?"

Sami shook her head. "The poison a green slime uses is easy to treat, but the slime itself requires someone extremely skilled at healing. All I can do is try to keep him alive until the poison leaves."

"What do we need to do?" Tom asked.

"We need to get to some shelter." Sami answered, "I also need a fire and some water to brew a potion. It will help ease the pain, and hopefully help drive out the poison."

Tom picked up Nate and they made for the forest. They found a small clearing barely large enough for all of them and a fire. Soon Tom had the fire going and a small pot hung over it with a nasty-smelling substance in it. After it had boiled and simmered for several minutes she put it in a cup. Gently, Sami shook Nate. Thankfully, he had stopped shaking.

"Nate. Wake up."

Nate's eyes opened slightly. "Sorry. I...I don't think I'll be there to face Chaos with you."

"Don't talk such rot. Just drink this." Sami said, handing him the cup. He obediently drank it.

"What's it like, Sami?" Nate suddenly asked.

"What's what like?" Sami asked, surprised.

"What's it like after you die?" Nate asked.

Sami leaned against a nearby tree. "I don't know firsthand. I've never died. But my mentor, he did. He described it to me."

"What did he say?" Nate asked.

Sami smiled slightly. "He said it was like going to sleep, then flying over an ocean. Soon, you see them."

"See what?"

"White shores, where angels are waiting to bring you to paradise."

Nate's eyes smiled slightly, though they were half closed. "That doesn't sound so bad." Then he fell asleep.

They spent the rest of the night like that. Every few hours Sami would wake Nate and give him some more potion. Lily and Tom kept the fire going and plenty of fresh water at the ready. But despite their best efforts to stay awake, their bodies caught up with them. Around two o'clock they drifted off.


	14. Astos, King of the Dark Elves

Chapter 13: Astos, King of the Dark Elves

When Sami woke in the morning it was to the smell of something delicious. She opened her eyes to see Nate adding fresh berries to a boiling pot.

"Feeling better?" she asked as she stood.

"Nate looked up. "Very much so. Thank you. That's two I owe you."

"Two? What about Garland and the slimes? Oh, and the ogres, imps, and pirates? Seems like we owe you."

"Those could be counted as in my best interest." Nate replied, "Between the spear wound and the poison, that's two. Oh, and when I first got here, so that's three."

"Two. You blew up a pirate ship, that's got to count for something."

Nate shrugged. "Suit yourself. Ah, the fruit soup is done."

The 'fruit soup' was an unusual blend of boiled dry fruits, a piece or two of candy from Pravoka, and a cinnamon stick he had taken from the pirate vessel they now called their own. It wasn't good, it was wonderful. When praised for it, he simply said, "I read about it on the ship. Besides, it was the least I could do."

They made good time back to Western Keep, arriving there in the early afternoon. They entered, though Nate said something about a bad feeling.

The king was elated that they had returned. "Welcome! Do you have the crown?"

"Yes." Tom said, though he didn't make any move to get it.

The king started to laugh, an evil laugh, a bad laugh. "Such useful little fools." he said, "How little you knew. I am Astos, King of the Dark Elves! With the crown you hold, and the crystal I possess already, I will be the ruler of the elves! Now, hand over the crown!"

Astos had changed his form while he spoke, changing into a nasty-looking dark elf. The party was appalled.

"Never!" Tom cried.

"Wait." Nate said. He took several steps forward, then spoke. "We will give you the crown. I have it."

"WHAT?" Sami cried, furious. Nate faced them and winked.

"It's in here." he said, holding up his bag. He opened the bag...and a piscodemon sprung from it.

It was the distraction they needed. Tom, Lily, and Sami charged at Astos, who had just thrown the dummy off himself. The battle was on.

Astos was as good as or better than Garland had been. He could certainly take the hits better than Garland.

He suddenly swung wide and sent Tom and Lily flying head over heels across the room, then he threw a spell at Sami.

Nate jumped between Sami and the spell, countering it with a fireball. The spell stopped, though it was still pressing against Nate's magic.

"Ha!" Astos barked, "You think you can stop my Death spell?"

"Nope. Sami, take a few steps to your left."

Sami moved, as did Nate. Then he broke his spell. The Death spell slammed into a pillar and destroyed it.

Astos was furious. "How dare you! Now you shall face my true wrath!" Astos raised his hands in preparation for a bigger, more powerful spell.

"No you don't!" Tom cried. He charged in, and thrust his sword in through the armpit of Astos's armor.

Astos reared, as if howling, but no sound came out. Instead, he crumbled to dust, and his sword clattered beside him.

"We did it." Lily said, "We beat Astos!"

"Guys!" Nate called, "Come over here." he was behind the throne. They joined him and gasped at what they saw. While there was a small chest filled with gold, there was something even more important.

Sitting on a pedestal, cushioned by a pillow, was a crystal ball. Nate reached out and touched it.

There was a flash, and they found themselves back in Matoya's cave. She smiled. "Thank you for finding my crystal eye. If you could put it on the table in front of me?"

Nate placed the crystal on the stand. Matoya looked into it for a moment, the looked at them. "Thank you. How can I repay you?"

Tom shook his head. "You don't need to give us anything. It was the right thing to do."

"Nonsense." Matoya replied, "I just saw everything you went through to get it. Oh, and Sami? The antidote for green slime poisoning is two cloves garlic and three hapweed strands mixed in three cups water and ground up."

Sami whipped out a piece of parchment and wrote the recipe down.

"Actually," Lily said, surprising everyone, "we would like to know how to wake up the elf prince."

"Hmm..." Matoya thought for a minute. "Ah! I have just the thing." She stood, opened a cabinet, and withdrew a reddish purple bottle. "Pepper-up Potion. The only thing this stuff can't wake is the dead." She handed the potion to Sami, then said, "I'll send you back to the keep now. Thank you again, and fair journeys." There was a flash of light, and they were back at the keep.

"Well," Lily said, all smiles, "We've got the potion. Let's go to Elfheim!"

They took some of the gold and Astos's sword and left the keep. There, as if waiting for them, were the four chocobo.

"We're in for another ride, aren't we." Sami said grudgingly.

There wasn't time to answer. The chocobo gave a cry, then tossed the Light Warriors onto their backs and shot off into the forest.


	15. The Ball

Chapter 14: The Ball

Thankfully, the chocobo took them directly to Elfheim. By the time they got there it seemed that Sami was actually starting to like chocobo rides.

"Thanks." Nate heard her whisper to the chocobo. The chocobo cried once more, then shot off into the forest.

The city of Elfheim really wasn't any bigger than Cornelia, but the buildings were certainly more interesting. They had the look of having been grown, not built. As for the people themselves, the first thing one would notice was their ears, which stuck out about six inches. The next was that while they were tall, they were quite thin. Nate seemed to recall something about elvish beauty that he had heard in Pravoka, but whatever that was escaped him.

They were directed to the palace, where they were then shown to the prince's bedchamber. Apparently it was quite common for people to visit the prince.

As they entered the bedchamber, they were greeted by the maid. "Good afternoon." she said, a sad look on her face. "You probably already know this, but the prince has been cursed by Astos. He is asleep, and he cannot wake up."

"We think we might have the cure." Lily said as Sami pulled out the Pepper-Up Potion. The maid was shocked.

"Is that...can it be...Pepper-Up Potion?" She took the bottle carefully, almost reverently, and examined it. "It is! I shall call for the healers to administer it right away!"

It seemed like she had no sooner said it than the court healers were bustling into the room, preparing to administer the potion, figuring out exactly how much to give him. Finally they measured it out and poured it between his lips.

The prince stirred, then opened his eyes. "Am I awake?" he asked, "Or is this just another part of the nightmare?"

"You are awake, your highness." the healer said, "These heroes have brought you back from the endless sleep."

The prince looked at the Light Warriors carefully. "So the time has come. The Warriors of Light have arrived, and it is time that the key was given to its rightful owners."

He sat up, then held out his hand. He whispered something, and a beautiful key appeared. He handed it to Tom, who placed it in his bag.

"You are wounded." The prince said, "If you want, the court healers will attend to your wounds."

There was no denying their wounds. Blood covered Tom's and Lily's arms, Sami's face was slightly burned from the combined heat of Nate's and Astos's spells and Nate was just covered in nicks, scrapes, and scorch marks.

"Thank you, your majesty." Tom said politely, "That would be much appreciated."

The Light Warriors were ushered to a different room, where the healers made short work of their wounds. They were then given a room at the inn to rest for as long as they liked, another thing they appreciated. After all they had been through the last few days, they needed the good night's rest. They had no trouble falling asleep that night.

They were enjoying breakfast (which they paid for, but only after insisting on it) when they were approached by a messenger.

"Are you the Warriors of Light?" asked the messenger. They nodded and presented their orbs. "His majesty the Prince asked that I give you these invitations." he said as he handed out four decorative pieces of parchment. "You have been invited to the annual Spring Ball. Citizens from Cornelia, Pravoka, and Mt. Druerger will be attending." The messenger glanced around, then whispered, "Just between you and me, it is considered quite an honor to be invited."

"We'll be there." Tom said, picking up his invitation, "As long as you don't mind what we're wearing. We never considered formal wear when we packed for the journey."

"No worries." the messenger said, "The tailors in town would be happy to whip something up for you. Tell them Eldris sent you, they'll give you a good deal." He straightened his uniform, then said, "I must be on my way. There are still many invitations to deliver. Farewell."

Once the messenger had left they began discussing this turn of events.

"A ball." Lily said, flushed with anticipation, "How exciting."

"I agree." Tom said, "There will be a lot of influential and knowledgeable people there. Perhaps we can find out where the first crystal is."

"Bah." Sami grumbled.

"Bah?" asked Nate, "What's so bad about a ball?"

"Too many people." Sami grumbled, "And it's too formal."

"But the prince invited you." countered Tom.

"Still not going." Sami muttered.

"Lily thought for a moment. "I'll lend you my ruby pendant if you do."

Sami looked up, and Nate could see what he guessed were the remains of Sami from before her tragic event. "The one made of white gold?" Sami asked.

"I have any others?" Lily sweetly replied.

Sami bit her lip, sorely tempted. "Fine." she said, giving in, "I'll go. But no petticoats or hoop skirts, and certainly to corsets."

"Deal." Lily and Sami shook on it.

"Well then, we had better get to the tailors soon." Tom commented, examining one of the invitations, "The ball's tomorrow night."

They wolfed down the remainders of their breakfast and headed out to find the tailors. It wasn't hard, and they were the only ones there.

"Ah, new customers!" an elderly elf emerged from the back room as they entered, "Welcome. How may I be of service to you?"

"We were invited to the Spring Ball, but we never anticipated formal events when we were preparing." Tom explained.

"So you need ball attire then?" the elf asked.

"That is right." Tom replied, "Oh, and Eldris pointed us here."

"Young Eldris the messenger? Then you deserve a special discount!" He rang a bell on a table twice and two elf women, as old as the elf that had greeted them, appeared. "Now, if you two young ladies will follow my wife and sister-in-law into the back, they will get you fitted. As for you gentlemen, I'm afraid I'll have to do you one at a time. My brother is off buying supplies today."

"Don't worry." Nate said as Lily and Sami went behind the screens. "I doubt I'll take long at all."

It didn't take Tom very long to be fitted, and Nate settled for a crescent band for his hat and a cape with a crescent clasp (once he explained that he couldn't take off his hat, much less any other piece of clothing), and that suited him just fine.

In fact, it was Sami who took the longest of all of them. When she finally did come out she mumbled something about sizes and didn't say anything else.

As promised the tailor (Ceres was his name) cut them a good deal. After being told that their clothing would be done by noon of the next day and promising to come back sometime, they left. Like they had before, they split up. Tom went to the armorer's to see how much Astos's sword was worth. Nate and Sami checked the local magic shops, coming back with Haste and Hold for Nate and Heal and Cure Poison for Sami. Lily haggled for more supplies. By the time they returned to the inn their coin purses were noticeably lighter.

The morning of the ball came, and with it a set of lectures from Tom on ballroom etiquette. "Don't step on your dancing partner's foot. And don't get yourself into a fight." Tom said, getting close to the end of his little speech, "Before I continue, any questions?"

"Yeah." Sami spoke up, "When did you become an expert on ballroom etiquette?"

"There were several mandatory balls while I was attending Fighting School. The drill master insisted we know all the details of ballroom manners. Which reminds me, there's one more thing."

"What's that?" Sami asked.

"Traditionally, a lady is to be escorted to a ball by a gentleman." Tom said, bracing himself, "While none of us here would fit the traditional mold of ladies or gentlemen, I believe that will be expected of us."

"And how is it determined who escorts who?" Sami asked almost despondently.

"In groups like us, it's based on eye height." Tom replied.

Nate and Sami looked at each other. His eyes were less than an inch higher than hers.

"Great." Sami said.

"It could be worse." Nate said neutrally, "You could have been stuck with a thief."

"I might have preferred the thief." Sami muttered softly.

Nate shrugged. "Can't say I blame you." he replied, still neutral, "At least a thief has a face and his memories. I have neither."

Sami flinched. "Sorry." she said. She sounded like she truly meant it

Nate waved it away. "It's fine. Besides, it's noon. Our clothes should be done." He started heading to the door, then stopped and faced Sami. "There is a bright side to this whole thing." Nate said, the old smile back in his eyes, "Elves are excellent cooks, and from what I hear, there's going to be plenty of food at the ball."

Sami too smiled. "You're right there." And with that they left to get their ball clothes.

The sun was just beginning to set when the Light Warriors got ready for the ball. Nate was the first ready, but he only had to add a cape and hat ornament. Tom was next, in a military-like dress uniform that reflected his profession. Lily was next, wearing a ruby-red ball gown with her platinum-blond hair hanging loose behind her. Finally Sami came out and everyone's jaw dropped.

She was drop-dead gorgeous. Her white gown accentuated her slender build, and her slightly wavy red hair framed her face. Like her normal robes, the end of the gown's short sleeves and hem of her gown had red triangles around them. Lily's pendant completed the picture, complementing the rest of her attire.

For a few seconds she looked pleasantly embarrassed. The seconds ended, though, and she said sternly, "Not a word."

Tom laughed. "Very well. Let's go." He offered Lily his arm and they left. Nate mimicked Tom and, to his surprise, Sami took it and they too left for the ball.

They arrived at the castle without incident, and Tom was correct. They were expected to escort each other. They got in easy enough, showing their invitations and entering.

No sooner had they entered then the musicians started playing a waltz. Tom and Lily started dancing, and Nate and Sami followed suite. Nate surprised Sami by actually being a good dancer. Nate surprised himself because he didn't know he could dance.

The dance ended and they split off to mingle. Nate ran into Markus, the black mage from Pravoka's magic shop (and was mercilessly teased about his dance with Sami). Sami was talking animatedly to an old man with a long white beard. Lily appeared to be chatting to a ship captain and Tom was in discussion with a group of dwarves.

Sami finished speaking to the old white wizard. Her conversation had yielded some good and bad news. Maybe the others had had better luck.

The smell of something good wafted by her nose and she turned to see a table of refreshments. 'The others can wait for a few minutes.' she thought. Then, 'I wonder if the elves are as good chefs as Nate heard.' She made a beeline for the table. If they tasted half as good as the smelled or looked then they would have exceeded the rumors.

She selected a tiny tart from a plate and took a bite. It wasn't as good as she and expected, it was better. She finished the tart and picked up a glass of blue drink. It too exceeded her expectations, though she had no ideas what it was.

She was just considering trying a cookie of sorts when an extravagantly dressed man approached her. "Good evening, fair lady." he said, his voice all oil and honey, "What would you say to us going somewhere a little private and I'll show you a good time."

"No thanks." Sami said, not even raising her face.

"You won't know a good time until I've shown you." the man pushed.

"Not interested." Sami replied, still looking at the plate of cookies. The man was working at her nerves, and only her promise not to fight kept her from slapping the man.

"I said you're coming with me." the oil and honey had gone from the man's voice and had been replaced with an air of command.

Sami looked up, her mossy-stone colored eyes meeting his ice-blue. "And I said no." she replied, "Must I spell it out?"

But he wasn't going to take no. He grabbed Sami's arm. Sami tried to yank it back, but he was too strong.

"Is there a problem here?" Nate's timing was perfect, for once.

"No." growled the man, "There is no problem."

"Then you won't mind letting go of my friend, will you." Nate replied calmly.

"And if I don't?" the man snarled.

Nate shrugged. "Who knows? I might reduce you to a pile of ashes. I might also turn you into a stale cupcake."

The man let go of Sami and glared at Nate. Then he pulled off his glove and slapped him in the face.

Nate hardly seemed fazed by this. He simply raised his hand, moved it in a circular motion around the wrist, and closed the index and middle fingers on the thumb.

The man slouched, then fell forward. Nate caught him, then dragged him into a chair. As an afterthought, Nate placed an empty wine goblet in the man's hand.

"What did you do?" asked Sami, slightly scared.

"I put him to sleep." Nate answered matter-of-factly. "It was the quickest way to stop him from harassing you without starting a fight." The man snorted in his sleep, almost as if he would have liked to fight.

Sami smiled, then said, "Thank you."

"It was nothing," Nate replied, "But you are welcome."

The musicians started playing another song, and Sami motioned to the dance floor. "Care for another dance? You really are quite good."

"Thank you, and I'd be delighted to." Nate answered, bowing slightly. They walked out to the floor.

"Nate?" Sami said just before they started dancing.

"Yes?"

"Don't tell anyone about my little adventure here."

Nate's eyes seemed to smile. "Of course."

Meanwhile...

Tom met a group of dwarves and struck up a conversation with one of them.

"Nerrik's m' name." the dwarf introduced himself. "I'm the leader for the canal project."

"I'm Tom, a fighter. I'm traveling with some friends, and happened to be at the right place at the right time."

Nerrik chuckled. "If that ain't a lie, then my name's Haurenburg. You're one of those Light Warriors that the talks be goin' on 'bout, ain't ya."

Tom chuckled. "You've got me. We're just trying to keep a low profile. And out of curiosity, what talk?"

"Well," Nerrik said, thinking, "There were somat 'bout saving Princess Sarah, takin' out Bikke an' his gang, and wakin' the elf prince." He paused, then continued. "Oh, and somat about a black mage who can level armies."

"So much for a low profile. So tell me, what's this canal project you mentioned? We haven't heard much news for almost two weeks."

"Ah." Nerrik's eyes gleamed. "The canal is to make tradin' between the north an' south continents easier. To get raw materials to Cornelia, ya must take them on a three day trip over goblin infested land. You canna' even take tha' much. But if there were a canal tha' connected the Inner an' Outer Oceans, then a large ship could carry large amounts quickly. It would also make journeys ta the northern continents easier. Ya could stay on one boat 'stead of two."

"Interesting. How long is it until completion?"

"I dunno." Nerrik said, looking slightly crestfallen, "We hit a vein of granite an' work's been slow ever since. Wha' we need is some explosives. Nitro Powder would be perfect, but it's almost impossible ta get."

"If we find any on our travels, we'll bring it by." Tom said, "Out of curiosity, what do you know about the Earth Crystal?"

Nerrik looked thoughtful. "I'm not too sure. I used to know where it was. Tell ya what. If ya come by Mt. Druergur, I'll tell ya."

"Deal." Tom replied. He glanced over and saw a man harassing Sami. "Excuse me." he said.

He started moving towards Sami, and got ran into by Lily.

"Sorry." Lily said, "Looks like Sami got into trouble."

They turned their attention back to Sami just in time to see the man slap Nate and Nate put him to sleep and drag him to a chair. Sami and Nate exchanged some words and started dancing.

"It's about time." Lily said, "If they kept fighting like they have been, I might've slapped one of them."

"Maybe both." Tom replied, "Though, I don't think we should tell them that we saw that."

Lily nodded. "Agreed."

"I think they have the right idea, though." Tom said, "Would you like to dance?"

Lily giggled. "Alright."

Three hours, twelve conversations, six dances, and a plate of cookies later and the ball was over. They were a little late getting back to the inn (Nate had gone back to find something as they had been leaving) and were dead tired when they go there. They wasted no time getting to bed.

That night Nate dreamed. It seemed like his mind was recounting his entire life since Cornelia. The first time he saw Tom, Lily, and Sami. Their shopping spree. A short argument with Sami over magic. The goblins and skeletons. Garland. Princess Sarah. The trip to Matoya's cave and the bickering with Sami that went with it. Bikke and his pirates. The ship. Sami green with seasickness. Lily at the wheel and Tom joking about orders. The attack. Maron. How Lily had become like an older sister to her. The reunion. The child with the horse. Tom, Lily, and Sami giving a detailed description to Maron's aunt and uncle. The chocobo. Marsh cave, where he felt the poison at the same time Sami laughed at his hat. That long night of pain. Astos and how Tom heroically saved them. The ball.

He woke as the sun was rising. He looked out the window and smiled. Life was good. Hard, but good.


	16. Return to Cornelia

Chapter 15: Return to Cornelia

The Light Warriors returned to the fishing village Alan's Bay to prepare their ship for departure. As they got close to the _Maiden's Voyage_ Maron waved down at them from the crow's nest.

"Hey guys!" she called. She clambered down the ropes like a monkey and was in front of them in seconds.

"The ship's in ship shape." she said happily. "I even got the pulley system fixed so we can take the dingy on board."

Like her attitude she was looking better. She had put on some weight, which was nothing but good as the gauntness had finally left her face. She almost looked like a normal thirteen-year-old girl.

"So, when are we setting sail?" she asked.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "We? You don't want to stay here with your aunt and uncle?"

"We considered it." Maron said, "But they don't really have the room or the means to keep me. And sailing around the world with the Light Warriors, well, that's just too good to miss. With the experience I would gain, maybe I could be a ship captain. You will let me come, won't you? Please?"

Lily smiled coyly and looked at the others. "I don't know." she said, "What do you guys say?"

"She is good with the ship." Nate said.

"A fifth person would ease the strain." Sami added.

"We'll have to change her wage." Tom said.

Maron looked confused. "Wage? What wage?"

Lily tossed Maron a small bag of gold. "Here's your commission." she said, "Don't worry, you'll get paid when we reach each port."

Maron smiled. "Thank you. I'll make sure I earn my keep."

Lily chuckled. "I know you will. Now, let's get ready for departure. We sail for Cornelia in one hour."

"Aye aye!" Maron replied, "I'll tell my aunt and uncle, and then I'll be right back!" She shot off towards her aunt and uncle's house.

"Sami, get some ginger water and make sure the galley's well stocked."

"Sure thing."

"Nate." Lily continued, "Plot a course to Cornelia."

"Aye." Nate answered, going on board to fetch the maps.

"Tom, wait for Maron. Tell her to check the sails. Then make sure all supplies are stowed securely. I'll be underwater checking the hull."

"Yes ma'am." Tom replied. He kept a straight face while she took off her hat, boots, and cape and jumped into the water. Then he chuckled. He may be the defacto leader on land, but Lily was the captain with no doubts about it.

Within the hour they were sailing for Cornelia. Nate's course took advantage of the currents to speed their journey, and they made the trip in three days. They made Maron's day when they told her she could come with them to claim their treasure.

They were greeted by the guards, who escorted them to the castle. The King of Cornelia met them.

"The Light Warriors have returned!" he said, "Do you have the mystic key?" Tom held out the key. "Excellent! If you will follow me, I will take you to the treasure room."

They arrived at the treasure room. Tom inserted the key and turned it. The lock _clicked_ and the door swung open. The guards held a torch each and Nate 'lit' his left hand.

They got to the center and Nate lit his other hand and made them brighter. Gold and jewels glittered in the reflected light for a second before he dimmed them to normal and put out his right hand. They split up, Lily and Maron going one way with a guard, Tom and the King going with the other guard, and Nate going with Sami another way.

As Nate and Sami looked they found two barrels. One was filled with staffs and hammers. While Sami looked through these, Nate took a closer look at the other.

"Let's see." he said, bringing his lit hand closer. "Nitro Powder. What's this written under it?" He looked closer. T.N.T.

"Holy mackerel!" Nate jumped back, extinguishing his light.

"What's wrong?" Sami asked, "Why'd you put out the light?"

"Sorry." Nate answered from the darkness. His light reappeared a second later. "The barrel I was looking at had T.N.T. in it." Sami looked puzzled at him. "Explosives." he explained, "Like when I screw up a fire spell but much worse."

"Did someone say explosives?" Tom asked, coming over with the king and a guard. Lily, Maron, and the other guard also found their way over.

"Yeah, T.N.T." Nate said, "Enough to rip apart a mountain."

"Interesting." Tom said, "Nerrik the dwarf was looking for some explosives for his canal project. Mind if we take it?"

The king nodded. "Yes, by all means. A canal the likes of Nerrik's will help trading significantly."

"Fine." Nate said, "Just as long as I don't carry it. The last thing we need is for me to sneeze or trip and blow us to kingdom come."

"Where's that?" Lily asked, "Sounds interesting."

"Haven't a clue." Nate replied, "But I'd rather not get blown there."

"Excellent." the king said, "Now, don't be shy, take whatever you want. The safety of my daughter is worth all in this room and countless more."

"Uh, Nate?" Sami asked, looking at him, "What are you doing?"

Nate was digging through a pile of gold, though not picking any up. "I think there's something magic under here." he said, still digging. "Ah! I think this is it!" He pulled out a scroll case and extracted a map. He unrolled it and studied it.

"It looks like a map." Sami said, "A plain map."

"Pity it can't show us where the crystals are." Lily said.

As if in response, the map changed. Four blots appeared, then labels.

"Wow." Sami said, "You've got some nose for magic."

Nate nodded. "Like a moth to a flame."

The lines on the map squirmed, then the entire map went black.

"Show us a topographical map with cities and roads please." Nate said hurriedly.

The blackness receded into line again, though the four points were gone.

"I...I think Chaos was interfering with the map." Nate said, "I don't think we'll be able to use it to find the crystals again."

"It's still and impressive map." Tom said, "I say we take the T.N.T. and map, as well as a few chests of gold for traveling expenses."

"May I take this?" Maron asked, holding up a cutlass. The king nearly hit the ceiling.

"Good grief!" he exclaimed, "I didn't see you!"

"Don't worry." Lily said hurriedly, "She's with us. She's part of the ship crew, and a good one at that."

"Oh." the king said, calmed, "In that case feel free. Now, may I ask your name?"

"Maron." she replied, "And thank you. It is an honor to meet you."

"I believe the honor is mine." the king answered, "Anyone who travels with the Light Warriors must be extraordinary."

Maron laughed. "No, I'm just a good sailor. I just don't sound like one."

"Which is extraordinary in and of itself. Your parents must be proud."

There was a split second of silence, barely long enough to be noticeable. Lily and Maron smiled. "Yes." Maron said, "I believe they are."


	17. Mount Dreuerger

Chapter 16: Mount Dreuerger

Aside from the T.N.T., map, and cutlass, they were also getting four large chests of treasure and one smaller one. They left the large ones in a bank in Cornelia, taking the smaller chest on board. Not like the skiff could take all the treasure anyway.

The next day found the Light Warriors (except Lily, who had taken Maron into town for new clothes) examining and doing pre-voyage checks on their ship. Tom was checking the hull, Sami in the supply room, and Nate checking over the ropes while hanging upside-down by his feet.

"Hey Nate!" Sami called from below, "Don't kill yourself up there! We need our black mage for the rest of this quest!"

"Don't worry!" Nate called back, "I won't hit the ship!" As if to test his claim the rope supporting him snapped. He fell, caught another rope, and did a cannonball in the water.

Once Nate had resurfaced, Sami laughed. "You were saying?"

"I missed the ship didn't I?" he answered, laughing. "And by the way, that rope's no good."

Sami laughed a little harder and let down the ladder so he could clamber back on board.

"That was refreshing." Nate commented cheerily while wringing out his robes, "I'll have to try that again sometime."

Sami laughed harder, and Nate clambered up the rigging to remove the broken rope.

Sami was still chuckling when Lily and Maron returned. "What's so funny?" Lily asked. Before Sami could answer, Nate fell off the rigging (again), caught a rope, and crashed into the three girls on deck. The four of them flew overboard, splashing down in the water.

"See?" Nate said once they'd surfaced, "I told you I wouldn't hit the ship!" Sami laughed and splashed him, and the water war was on. Tom joined in somewhere, and they spent the rest of the morning at it.

They finally got back on board and flopped on deck to dry off. They were panting hard; the water war had been pretty fierce for a while. After they had dried off and regained their breath, they left the dock and Cornelia behind and set sail for Mount Druerger.

It didn't take long to get to Mount Druerger, especially with the good wind they had. It only took two days and thankfully Sami wasn't getting so seasick anymore.

They found the dock easy enough, and the road to Mount Druerger was marked and easy to follow. A friendly man with a wagon gave them a ride and they arrived around mid-afternoon.

"Greetin's." a dwarf said as they entered, "Yeh must be ta ones Nerrik wa' yappin' 'bout. Yer the Light Warriors, righ'?"

Tom nodded. "That's right. We brought the explosives for the canal."

"Yeh got ta Nitro Powder?" the dwarf asked, wide-eyed, "He's workin' on ta canal righ' now. Jus' follow ta second cave to yer left. Jus' follow ta clankin' an' ye'll get there. An' when yeh'r done, ya may wan' ta blether with Smyth, our smith. He's ta best around."

"Thank you." Tom said. He and Nate picked up the keg of powder and with Lily and Sami in tow they found the canal workplace.

Nerrik saw them coming and hurried to greet them. "Yeh done it! Yeh brought the Nitro Powder!"

Nate and Tom put it down. "Yep." Nate said, "Enough to blow your canal open, granite or no."

"Yeh must be that black mage Tom mentioned." Nerrik said, "The one with amnesia. Tom said they wouldn't ha'e got so far without yeh."

"And without Tom, we wouldn't have left Cornelia yet." Nate answered, "I just save them trouble, even if I cause some of it."

Sami snickered and Nerrik turned to her. "Yeh must be Sami." he said, "Sailin' been any easier for yeh, now that yeh've been at it for a while?"

""Yes, I've been much better, thank you." Sami replied, "Lily's been getting better at the helm too, and that helps."

Nerrik turned to Lily. "Ay take it yeh're Lily? Hear yeh're a natural sailor. Who taugh' yeh?"

Lily laughed. "A bunch of pirates, actually." she said, "Bikke and his crew didn't have much choice."

"Really?" Nerrik asked, "Well Tom, yeh've got some sharp travelin' companions. But I've got to get back ta work. This powder won' plant itself. After it blows I'll tell yeh what yeh need to know."

It only took Nerrik ten minutes to set the powder and soon they could hear explosions roar. One massive one suddenly hit and everyone fell to the ground. Nerrik came out soon after.

"Tha' powder was stouter than we thought." he said, "Blew ta canal wide open. Good thing too, seein' where ta crystal is."

"Where is it?" Tom asked.

"Tis in ta Cavern o' Earth, on ta Devil's Tail." Nerrik said, "Ta nearest port is on Melmond. They can give yeh better directions than Aye."

"Thanks." Tom said, "That took a lot of time off our search."

"Aye should warn yeh." Nerrik said, "There's been talk of a vampire lurkin' round there."

"We'll be careful." Tom replied, "Besides, that's what we've got these two for." He gestured towards Nate and Sami.

Nerrik chuckled. "Aye guess so. But Aye've jabbed enough. Talk to Smyth before yeh go, he'll fix up yehr weapons an' armor. Ay'll see yeh again Aye hope."

"Don't worry." Tom assured him, "We don't have any plans on dying during our quest."

"Well then, good bye." Nerrik said, shaking their hands, "Good luck with ta crystals, and may the Light be with yeh."

Taking Nerrik's advice, they found Smyth in his workshop and had their weapons and armor repaired. While they were waiting for Tom's sword to cool down properly, they talked.

"Wish Aye could get me hands on some adamantite." he said, "Aye could truly make a powerful sword ta help yeh in yehr quest. Aye just don' know where to find it."

"We do a lot of traveling." Tom said, If we find any, we'll bring it to you."

"Thanks, laddie. I'd be happy to give yeh ta sword just for ta chance to work with such a metal." Smyth went over and picked up Tom's sword. "All done. 'Tis a fine sword. Aye'd make it better, bu' Aye don' have ta adamantite ta do it."

Tom took his sword and slid it into its scabbard. "It works well enough as it is. Thanks for repairing it."

"Twas no problem." Smyth said, "A friend o' Nerrik's is a friend o' mine. Good luck on yer quest youngsters, an' take care."

Farewell, and we'll bring any adamantite we fine." Tom said. And with that they headed back to the ship.


	18. From Melmond to Vampires

Chapter 17: From Melmond to Vampires...

The trip to Melmond took almost a week, thanks to little wind and no help from the currents. But they arrived there safely, which is saying something since they passed several whirlpools.

As they entered Melmond, it became painfully obvious something was wrong. Buildings were damaged, and what might have been a church was almost completely destroyed.

"What happened here?" Maron asked. She had accompanied them into town out of curiosity, and the ship was visible from the gates anyway.

"The vampire attacked, that's what happened." a young man said, "He destroyed the church and terrorized us. We all made it out alive but three of my friends are still recovering from his bite. They were lucky not to be cursed as vampires."

Sami's eyes narrowed. "So there is a vampire. He'll regret the day he messes with us."

"Calm down, Sami." Lily said, "This vampire wouldn't happen to be holing out in the Cavern of Earth, would he?"

The man's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How would you know that?"

"We think he's responsible for the earth's decay." Tom replied, "A hint we picked up from Mount Druergar, and fortified by the news that a vampire caused this destruction. We're here to put a stop to it."

The man looked grim. "If you're going to do that, you'd best stay the night at the inn. The magic shops are still open if you're interested."

Tom nodded. "Thanks. We'll do that."

A short while later they had visited the magic shops and were resting in the inn. Sami had acquired Life, a spell that revived nearly-dead who were beyond Cure's ability to heal. Nate now had Scourge, a spell that could level an army...if it hit. Sami didn't say anything about Nate having such a spell, she was too busy pacing the room.

"Get some sleep, Sami." Nate said. He and Sami were the only ones awake. Tom was snoozing in his armor and Lily was lying on a bed, a scroll in her hands and snoozing softly. Maron was on a bed, curled up under a blanket. Nate was studying his scrolls to make sure he knew them, and that was hard enough without Sami marching back and forth.

"I couldn't if I wanted to." Sami snapped back, "Vampires are among the vilest, the most foul creatures of the undead. Only the lich are worse."

"Well, you won't be able to fight him if you don't get some sleep." Nate replied, "If you're tired you don't fight as well and your magic is less powerful."

Sami plopped down on her bed and glared at Nate, who glared back.

"You're afraid, aren't you?" Nate said suddenly.

This caught Sami off guard. "Wha...what?"

"You're afraid of the undead." Nate stated, "Or maybe you're afraid of becoming undead."

"What? No!" Sami said. Tom snorted loudly and Maron rolled over. "Well, yes." she admitted, "The thought of being dead and staying here, forever, tortured by the draw to the next life but unable to go there. That's what most undead feel."

"You almost have to pity them." Nate said solemnly, "Though I guess killing them is a form of pity, even if it is self-preservation."

Sami nodded. "It is, even if they don't realize it." She paused, the suddenly said, "If I become one of them, an undead of any type, kill me."

Nate shook his head. "I'll do one better. As long as I stand, I won't let them have you or anyone else here."

Sami smiled weakly. "Thanks."

There was an explosion outside, and several people screamed. Tom, Lily, and Maron were awake in a split second and everyone hurried outside to see what was going on.

Standing in the square in front of the inn, visible by the fires behind him, was the vampire.

"Ahhh." he said when he saw the Light Warriors, "Fresh blood. And such attractive young ladies to feast on too." The vampire directed his gaze at Maron. "The young are always so sweet, and I always did believe in desert first."

Maron had drawn her cutlass. "Any blood you take from me will come at a price." she said threateningly.

The vampire smiled. "A feisty one. Even better." Then he jumped at Maron.

Maron dodged the vampire's grasp and slashed at his legs, leaving a nasty gouge in his thigh. The vampire swiped at her, sending her flying. Lily jumped on his back, but with superhuman strength he flung her over him and threw her on the ground, kicking her head to ensure she didn't wake up and tossed a charging Nate aside.

Tom charged in, but the vampire simply threw him aside and set his gaze on Sami.

Sami felt her body freeze, paralyzed by the vampire's gaze. She tried to fight it. She struggled, but the gaze was too powerful, too strong.

'He's going to kill me.' she thought, 'He's going to make me a vampire.'

The vampire was now only inches away. He opened his mouth, baring his fangs. Sami braced, knowing her free life was about to end.

A fireball missed the vampire by a few inches, and another slammed his face. The gaze broken, Sami staggered back, then looked at where the fireballs had come from.

Nate was throwing fireballs as fast as he could. "Get...away...from...her!" he called between fireballs.

The vampire started advancing towards Nate. "Very well." he snarled, dodging a fireball, "I'll leave your girlfriend alone and take you!"

"Not my girlfriend!" Nate said, and his fireballs became a stream of fire. But the vampire was pushing back, and Nate was weakening. "Sami...help..." he said.

Sami felt a surge of power and focused it into a powerful Dia spell. The light arced from her and slammed the vampire. This was more than the vampire had bargained for, and was thrown against a wall by the combined force of the two spells. He fell to the ground, motionless.

Sami hurried to check on the others, healing Lily with the Life spell and curing the others. Nate approached the vampire.

"I think we beat him." Nate said after he had got as close as he dared.

"Ha ha ha ha ha..." the vampire laughed, "You may have defeated me, but you will never defeat my master, the lich! You can't even get to him. The earth crystal will remain dark forever, and the undead shall rule the land!"

Nate picked the vampire up by the throat. "Tell me how to get to the crystal." he commanded. The vampire smiled but said nothing. "If you don't tell me I'll extend this miserable existence of yours for a long time. Tell me, and I will set you free of this curse and grant you a swift death."

The vampire's smile faded, changing to a scowl. Finally he said, "Earth Rod. Sadda. Giant's Cave. Will open tablet in the Cavern of Earth. That's all."

"Thank you." Nate said. A blaze of lightning shot up his arm and through the vampire, who grimaced. Then, a look of peace crossed his face. "No," said the vampire, "thank you." And he fell to the earth and turned to dust.

"Who can sleep with all this racket!" A cantankerous old voice called, "Vampires and mages and who-knows-what-else! I came into town for a jar of herbs, and I can't even sleep at the inn!" A short, stooped old man with a cane hobbled out of the inn. He eyed the Light Warriors critically, then said, "You're late."

"Sorry." Tom said. He had just stood up and walked over to where Sami was treating Lily. "Will she be okay?"

Sami nodded. "The Life spell I just learned saved her. She's got a concussion, so she should stay off her feet for a day or two, but she'll be back to normal soon."

Lily stirred. "That vampire had a wicked kick." she moaned.

"You'll need to sleep." Sami said.

"Not with this headache." Lily replied. Nate staggered over, then placed his hand in front of Lily's face.

"Sleep." he said. Lily's eyes closed and her breathing became regular. Nate swayed, and would have fallen over if he hadn't already knelt down.

The old man grunted. "We'll talk in the morning, when we've all had some sleep." He turned and hobbled back to the inn.

Maron came over. "So, the vampire's gone?"

Sami nodded. "Yes, he's gone. And don't worry about Lily, she's just resting; like the rest of us ought to be doing."

Somehow they managed to get Lily back to their room and the inn, and everyone was out in a second.


	19. and from Sages to Lichs

Chapter 18: ...and from Sages to Lichs

Morning came, and never had the Light Warriors looked so bedraggled. The right side of Lily's face was covered in a nasty bruise, Maron was limping and favoring her left arm, Tom's face had numerous scratches, Nate's right eye couldn't open properly, and Sami had dark circles under her eyes. All of them were dirty and their clothes were torn. Tom's armor had a fist-sized dent where the vampire had hit him, and Maron's cutlass had blood that wouldn't come off.

Normally Sami would have healed everyone, but she was so tired from lack of sleep and their fight last night that she was barely conscious herself. The only time she stood for more than a minute was during a brief yet intense argument with Lily. Sami won and Lily accepted her fate to a day of bed rest.

Around noon there was a knock on their door. Nate opened it and the old man came in. He was carrying a bag from which a delicious smell came wafting to their noses, and a teapot hung from a knob on his cane. "I thought you could use some good food after last night's battle." he said.

While they ate, the old man talked. "My name is Sadda." he said, "I'm a sage, so to speak, though I am really more a hermit."

"Then, you know about the earth rod?" Nate asked.

"Yes." Sadda replied, "I do. I also know about the lich, the vampire's master."

Sami choked on a bun, and Nate had to slap her on the back. "I'm *cough* sorry, but did *cough* you say *cough* _lich?"_

"That's right." Sadda answered, "The vampire was just the lich's servant. The lich is the one feeding on the power of the earth."

"So the lich is somewhere in the Cavern of Earth, protected by a tablet that requires an Earth Rod to open. Once there, we have to defeat the lich and relight the crystal with an orb." Sami summed up from her chair.

"Exactly." Sadda said, "The first thing you need is the Earth Rod...which I have right here." He pulled out a metal rod with green streaks running through it.

"So...I guess it's to the Cavern of Earth we go, huh?" Lily said. She caught Sami's glare and quickly added, "Right after we finish healing."

Three day later Sami pronounced everyone fit to travel. Five days, three ogres, six wolves, four tigers and a slew of ghosts, shadows, and wraiths later they were at the Cavern of Earth. The land was so decayed that it felt almost like standing on a corpse. They wasted no time on getting into the cave.

It was quiet in the cave, but it was a tortured silence. Nobody spoke as they walked, following the feeling of dread as they got farther and farther down. They didn't encounter anything, thought they heard things moving in the shadow. They found the tablet and it suddenly became hard to move at all. They could almost see the evil emanating from the stone.

Tom pulled out the Earth Rod, and the tablet shook. He held it closer and the wall shattered. A crack appeared in the rod, and they became certain that its power was, like the wall, broken.

They continued, though the only things they saw were the occasional bats. They found a door, and entered into a vast chamber where a darkened crystal stood in the center.

"So," a voice came, "you finally arrive. I could have had my slaves kill you, but no I wanted to deal with you myself." From the floor a skeleton, robed in purple and gold clothing, appeared. A crown of energy crackled around the skull. "I am the lich, the eater of the power of earth. And soon you will replace the vampire...as my servants."

Sami's face turned green then red. "You son of a...a... oh, I can't think of anything that wouldn't be a greater insult to it!" Then she charged at the lich, brandishing her hammer.

The others didn't wait, they charged in with her. The lich was being pummeled by sword, hammer, fire from Nate and lightning from Lily. Sami put her hammer away and threw Dia after Dia at the lich. But there was a reason the vampire was the lich's servant and not the other way around. The lich threw them all back and advanced on Sami.

"For that insult, weak thought it was," he hissed, "you will be the first to go. Say goodbye to your life." The lich raised a dagger, chanting in a dark evil language.

"NO!" Nate cried. Then it was like the earth itself was coming to their aid. A rupture, starting near where Nate was standing, charged at the lich. Rock churned around him, and though he struggled the earth swallowed him with a sickening _crunch._

Sami stared at Nate. "What was _that?"_

"Scourge." Nate replied, panting, "I didn't know if it would work, but I didn't want to scorch you with fire or lightning or freeze you with blizzard, so I used something that couldn't hurt anyone but who I wanted."

"Thanks." Sami replied, "That's another I owe you."

"If we're going by that, we're even." Nate answered, "Let's worry about the crystal first."

The four of them approached the crystal, orbs in hand. Tom's glowed slightly, and the crystal gleamed in response. Tom touched the crystal with his orb and everyone watched as the glow of the orb spread through the crystal. Then, with a brilliant flare, the crystal lit.

"One down, three to go." Nate said. With that they left to return to Melmond.


	20. Crescent Lake

Chapter 19: Crescent Lake

They returned to Melmond easily enough. All the skeletons, wraiths, and other undead seemed intent on avoiding them. That, and apparently a rumor about the mage who could level armies with fire now being able to command the earth to swallow enemies and a white mage who's Dia could shatter a necromatic animation. Not like they complained. The trip back to Melmond was the nicest hike they'd had in a long time.

Though they entered Melmond quietly enough, people soon were swarming them. A couple of guys were hitting on Lily, who was trying to dodge them. Likewise, a gaggle of giggling girls were googling at Tom, who was looking nervous. Nate was being harassed by several teenagers who wanted to know every detail, and Nate was mostly just stuttering about the wrath of the earth and shades. Sami was the only one who had any luck: she was talking to a little girl.

"Did you really destroy the lich?" the girl asked, eyes shining.

"Yes, the lich is gone and the earth will begin to heal." Sami said.

"I bet you weren't scared when you fought the lich though." the girl said.

Sami smiled sadly. "Actually, I was terrified."

The girl looked confused. "You were? Then how did you defeat him?"

Sami glanced at the other Light Warriors. "I had good friends." Then, looking back at the girl, said, "Sometimes you have to put your fear aside and fight. Because if you don't, many more people would die. Sometimes you have to do something even though you're scared. That's why we do what we do."

The little girl smiled broadly. "When I grow up, I want to be just like you."

Sami smiled. "I'm glad you do."

"Alright, coming through, make way! Come on, give these guys a break! They've been through a lot!" Maron was pushing her way through the crowd. She caught up with the Light Warriors and practically dragged them to the inn, though it wasn't like the Light Warriors weren't more than happy to go with her.

They paid for their room and quickly locked the door.

"Whew." Lily said, "Thinks for that, Maron. Any more pick-up lines and I think I might've slapped one of them."

"I don't know about slapping," Tom said, "but a mad dash wasn't far from my thoughts."

"I think I'll dye myself gray." Nate said, "Maybe nobody will recognize me." He shrugged. "But I guess it could be worse. At least nobody screamed."

"Oh, come on." Sami said, "It wasn't all bad."

As if in response a woman's voice came through the (shuttered) window. "Will you marry me?" For the first time ever Nate saw a hint of annoyance in Tom's eyes.

"You don't have guys proposing to you." Lily said, saying what Tom wouldn't.

Sami shrugged. "You've got a point."

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm tired." Tom said with a yawn, "I'm looking forward to a night without watches."

"I don't know." Lily said, "With so many people out there, maybe there should be someone on watch."

"I'll take first watch." I'm a night owl anyway." Nate said.

It may have been late afternoon, but after the hike they'd just finished everyone but Nate was out in moments.

Morning came and, like always, Tom rose with the sun. Nate hadn't woken anyone to take watch, and was in fact still awake.

"Good morning." he said as Tom stretched and got out of bed. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah." Tom said, pulling on his armor, "You ever drift off?"

"Nope." Nate replied, "Didn't really have a chance. Plenty of people tried to sneak in last night." He chuckled, then continued. "All of them were after you or Lily. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were under a spell."

"Yeah, fame's spell." Tom said, "I wish I know how these rumors are getting out."

"What rumors?" Nate quizzically asked.

"Let's see." Tom said, "A fighter powerful enough to scare away dark elves, two sailors who can steer a ship through any storm, a white mage that can resurrect people, and a black mage that can level armies, destroy armadas, and cause the earth to swallow enemies."

Nate groaned. "Oh. Those rumors."

Soon the others woke and Nate, as the people seemed to give him a wide berth, retrieved breakfast. They were just digging into their rolls when a knock sounded from their door. Nate answered.

"Can I help you?" he asked politely.

"My name is Dr. Unne. I don't believe half of the stories about you and want to get the facts straight." the eccentric man at the door said.

"So you're not here to hit on someone?" Nate asked.

"Heavens no, I just wish to find out what really happened. I'm a scholar, it's what I do."

Nate turned to his companions. "It's a Dr. Unne. He says he wants to get the real story."

Tom nodded. "Let him in."

"Thank you." Dr. Unne said, "As I told your friend, I do not believe half the stories I hear about you and I'm skeptical about the rest."

"Good, because most of those didn't happen." Lily said through a bite of roll.

"I understand that. I just wished to know what really happened. First, the sailors who've braved any storm?"

"Not us." Maron said, "The sea's been quiet lately, except for the currents."

"I see. And you're the pirate girl there people rescued."

"Former pirate, now member of the _Maiden's Voyage's_ crew. And no, I wasn't a pirate by choice, I never plundered anything, and the closest thing I saw to treasure was a coin a pirate dropped on the deck."

"Interesting. And you," he said, looking at Lily, "must be the red mage who's sailed the world?"

"I've been all over the world, but I never left the ship I was on until I was rescued." Lily pointed to Maron. "Same case as her, abducted by pirates."

"I see. Now, how about the warrior with the reputation for slaying dark elves, would you care to correct that?"

"First, Astos attacked us. Second, Nate and Sami had him distracted and Lily was on the wrong side of the room. He was about to cast another Death spell, so I ran him through with my sword. That's how it happened."

"Fascinating. And you." He looked right at Nate, "You have a lot to explain. Let's start with the leveling armies."

"That was a mistake." Nate said, "I messed up a spell while we were surrounded by imps. The explosion scared them."

"Uh huh. And the armada of ships you sunk yourself?"

"Another mistake. The ship was an attacking pirate ship. I was swinging from a rope, knocking pirates off with fiery fists, and the rope broke. I hit the pirates' sail, and the rest is a fiery history."

"Okay, and the earth-swallowing thing?"

"Haven't a clue. I mean, I did use scourge to kill the lich, but nobody but us saw it."

"Strange. That rumor's been flying around for three weeks." Dr. Unne replied.

"Three weeks? I've only known Scourge for two, and none of my other spells are ground-based." Nate now looked worried.

"Probably some other black mage that looks like you." Tom said, "Rumors are easily corrupted."

"I just hope it's a story. I've got the feeling that black mages are considered a bad thing around here." Nate worried.

"Regardless, you should probably make for Crescent Lake." Dr. Unne said, "The fire crystal is probably in Mount Gurgu, which is accessible by river from Crescent Lake. Also, Lukhan himself is said to be there right now and going nowhere for quite a while. Considering you fulfill his prophecy, you might want to ask him about it."

"Thank you." Tom said, "We'll make that our next destination."

Dr. Unne stood. "Well, I must be going. There's a lead on the Luifeian language I need to investigate. Thank you for your time and good luck on your voyage. Farewell."

They set sail as soon as they had finished breakfast. The course Nate had plotted took advantage of both currents and wind, though they were going to have to stop at Elfheim for supplies. The _Maiden's Voyage_ just wasn't large enough to carry a month's worth of food and water for five people.

The journey to Elfheim was a rough week and a half. A three-day storm hit and their little skiff was being tossed everywhere. If not for their lifelines none of them would have made it. As it was the storm had blown them far enough off course to add a week to the journey.

They only had a day's worth of water left when they pulled into a dock near Elfheim. They refilled their water supply and took a carriage to Elfheim for food. Almost as a second thought they visited the tailors for new clothing. With the exception of Nate's robes, which seemed to repair themselves, the trials of their quest were catching up. Rips and tears were appearing as fast as they could fix them, and the three days of being thrown around deck didn't help the situation.

Two days later they returned to their ship with new clothes (and spare sets) and with the food they would need for the rest of the trip.

The winds didn't cooperate this time, and if it hadn't been for a windless storm they might not have made it. They did, and they arrived at Crescent Lake in their dingy.

Crescent Lake was not a city, it was more of a town. As always, one of the first stops was the magic shop. Like the ones in Pravoka, these ones had temporarily merged while the white magic shop was being remodeled.

"Ah, new customers!" a white mage said as she hurried up. A black mage was not far behind. "What can we do for you?" Then she caught sight of Nate. "Oh." An icy tone entered her voice. "You shouldn't be here. Wasn't it enough to destroy my shop? What, have you come after me now?"

Nate looked almost comical in his confusion. "What are you talking about? This is the first time I've been here. I've been at sea for the better part of two months, not counting a two day stop at Elfheim."

"He's not the one, Maggie." the black mage said, "The one that burned down your shop was shorter and skinnier."

"I'm sorry." Maggie said, "Ever since a black mage burned my shop to the ground I haven't trusted any black mages except Homac, and only because he helped fight off the mage."

"I wonder if that's the mage whose rumors keep hitting me." Nate said.

"Probably." Homac said, "If so, a confrontation is closing in."

They hurried and bought the spells they could afford. Lily had obtained Haste, Sami a spell that could de-stone people, and Nate got Quake, an upgrade to Scourge. Lukhan had apparently left for a few days and would be back soon, so Maron stayed at Crescent Lake to keep him there until the Light Warriors returned.


	21. Mount Gurgu

Chapter 20: Mount Gurgu

The trip to Mount Gurgu was easy enough except for a few Necha and Hydras that thought the Light Warriors would make a good snack. As for the inside of Mount Gurgu, it was hot. The heat shimmered as the lava flowed and the stone floor, while hard, was not cooler than anywhere else.

"It's so hot." Sami said, brushing sweat from her brow. Nate handed her his canteen.

"The heat doesn't bother me as much." he said, "Everyone can use my water if they need it."

"You sure?" Lily asked.

Nate nodded. "Sure I'm sure. Go ahead."

They made their way down through the volcano. The going was rough, and the paths crumbly, but soon the narrow way opened up to a wider cave. Unfortunately, they had to blast, smash, and slash their way through two lava wyrms, three fire elementals, and seven firehounds to stay there. However, they were rewarded for their efforts. A chest sat nearby and they wasted no time in going to it.

Nate was the only one with gloves, so he grasped the metal rim and lifted the lid. Lying on the bottom of the chest was a single sword. Nate picked it up. "It's cool to the touch." he said. He looked at the scabbard and read, "Icebrand."

Lily took it and drew the blade. The metal had a blue tint to it, and the cold waves emanating from it testified to its enchantment. "Very nice." Lily said, weighing it in her hand, "More sturdy than a rapier, but not much heavier."

"Take it if you want." Tom said, "It's too light for me to use if it's only slightly heavier than a rapier."

"Thanks." Lily said. She strapped the sword to her waist and they continued.

They soon entered a massive room with a giant red crystal in the center.

"Who goes there?" a voice boomed. From the lava a giant, serpentine shape emerged. While the head and torso were that of a woman, the rest was that of a massive snake. "I am Marilith, and you stand in my domain! DIE NOW!"

Marilith's fire spell was canceled out by Nate's Blizzard, and the battle was on. Tom delivered several nasty blows, and Sami's hammer crushed Marilith's sword. Lily vanished at some point, and Nate was holding off Marilith's blazes.

Marilith suddenly lunged and grabbed Nate, lifting him off the ground. Nate froze her arms, but she just laughed. "Chill me all you want. While my heart-fire burns, your cold cannot hurt me." She laughed, an evil laugh, until it changed to a scream. She dropped Nate as a blue blade thrust itself from her chest. Marilith crashed to the ground, changing to stone as her blood cooled.

The sword pulled itself from her back, and floated in the air. There was a shimmer around it, and Lily appeared.

"Never thought I'd use invisibility." she said, smiling, "but that worked well."

Nate picked himself up and brushed himself off. "Thanks for the save. That was a hot situation. Literally."

"No problem." she said as she pulled out her orb, "Now let's get this thingy lit."

Nate and Sami pulled out their orbs as Tom stood back to watch. As they approached, Lily's orb glowed. The crystal glowed like an ember, then flared to life.

"Two down." Nate said, "Halfway there."


	22. Levistone

Chapter 21: Levistone

They returned to Crescent Lake easy enough, with the exception of a school of piranha (Nate zapped them into oblivion), and were at the inn by nightfall.

Inside the inn Maron was talking to an old man in a turban and purple robes. She saw them and beckoned them over.

"Lily, Tom, Sami, Nate, this is Lukhan. Lukhan, this is Lily, Tom, Sami, and Nate."

"The Warriors of Light." Lukhan said as he looked them over, "You have done will. But two more crystals are left to light, and your ship cannot get you to them."

"Pleasure to meet you too." Sami said dryly.

"So, how do we get to them?" Tom asked.

Lukhan looked at them with piercing eyes. "Go to the Ice Caves and find the Levistone. Then, to the desert south of here. There you will find your answer."

"Okay then." Tom said, "We'll leave first thing in the morning."

"Good." Lukhan settled back in his chair. "Now that the saving-the-world business is out of the way, sit down and tell me about yourselves. I may see the future, but I am still an old man at heart and the vision told me nothing of those who would be the Light Warriors. Please, tell me your full names."

The Light Warriors sat down, surprised by the abrupt change in attitude. Regardless, they introduced themselves.

"I am Tom of Weathertop, a fighter. I am from a farm east of Cornelia. I received the orb from my father on my seventeenth birthday."

"My name is Lily Longstrider. My home was destroyed and I now hail from Cornelia. I received the orb when I was fifteen. Like Maron, I like sailing."

"I am Sami Rosethorn. My home too was destroyed and I moved to Cornelia to study under a white wizard. I've had my orb since I was six, I do what I do because I like the feeling I get when I heal someone. It makes me happy."

Nate took a moment to think. "I am Nate the Wandering One. I know not where I am from or where I received my orb, but feel I am going the right way."

"That's it?" Lukhan said skeptically, "Either you four are incredibly boring or you won't tell me. What likes and dislikes do you have, special skills, the like."

Tom went first again. "I like botany, and I can cook as well as wield a sword. I'm also good at money management."

"Aside from sailing I like to paint. My favorite food is chocolate covered cherries. I don't really have any special skills, I'm more a Jack-of-all-Trades."

"While I do specialize in healing, I carry a hammer and know how to use it. I hate anything undead. As for special skills, my Dia spells are more powerful than most white mage's."

"I really don't know." Nate said apologetically, I haven't really tried much, except for studying spells. I don't know what I'm good at, and for dislikes I share Sami's view of the undead."

Lukhan raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Nate shrugged. "I've got amnesia. I can't remember much past about two months ago."

"I see." Lukhan replied. He looked at the others. "Which one of you will rat him out?"

"He's good at fire spells." Tom said.

"While he rarely gets them right, he always accomplishes his goal." Lily added.

"He always keeps his promises." Sami continued, "Even if he does tend to be clumsy and oblivious. And he's a good dancer."

"I really didn't know I could dance." Nate said, embarrassed.

"Much better." Lukhan said, Your turn."

"Tom's a strong silent type who knows more than he lets on. Lily's somewhat carefree most of the time but keeps her head in a crisis. Sami can be a grouch but has a soft spot, even when seasick."

"Good. You know each other."

They talked for a while, swapping stories and advice. They finally went to bed several hours later, which was good for they left early in the twilight hours of the morning.

They made it to the Ice Caves quickly and easily enough. The inside was a problem.

_WHAM!_

Nate pulled himself from a massive ice crystal for the sixth time. Sami shook her head.

"Try going a little slower." she said.

"Don't think that'll help." Nate answered, "These boots have no traction on ice. But maybe..." he changed his position and started moving. He caught up to the rest of the group and stopped pushing.

"There. That's not too hard, is it?" Sami said.

"Actually, I froze some rocks on my boots. More traction."

"Your froze rocks to your boots." Lily said with an eyebrow raised, "You're in an ice cave and you used Blizzard?"

"I didn't have time to wait." Nate replied.

"Guys, I don't care if he tried to freeze a snowflake as long as he doesn't run me over." Sami said as she rubbed her arm. Nate's third slip ended with a collision into Sami.

They walked on until Tom suddenly stopped them. Nate tripped and quickly saw why they stopped.

"Stalagmites." Nate said, eyes only inches from a particularly nasty one, "That could've hurt."

"It's the only way to go." Lily said, "Any ideas?"

"Be careful while crossing?" Sami asked.

"One." Tom said, "Nate, can you clear the way with a fireball?"

"Without bringing the whole place down?" Nate asked, "Yeah, probably." He repositioned himself and launched a fireball, sending himself skittering backwards.

The fireball smashed through the stalagmites and blazed a hole through the wall. The cavern shook dangerously.

Nate was running forward and shot a Blizzard spell at the hole. Ice covered it and the cave stopped shaking. Nate had been blasted back again, but he came skidding back.

"Good thing I picked that up." Nate panted.

"Good thing I wasn't looking when you got it." Sami said.

"You win." Nate said, "Let's go."

A tunnel, two fireballs and a blizzard later they met the Mindflayers.

The Mindflayers held up to their name. Their psychotic blast sent them reeling. Nate, confused, shot off a Fire spell and went flying. The Mindflayers laughed and pursued their attack. Well, until a confused Nate ran them over while shooting off Fire spells. Now that he was tangled in a mess of Mindflayers he lashed with Thunder attack. Mindflayers, like their cousins the Piscodeamons, don't like lightning.

Nate managed to untangle himself from the mess and stood up. "Fireproof, yes. Lightning-proof, no."

Everyone shook out their heads, clearing them from the effects of the Mindflayers. "Thanks." Tom said, "You've got plenty of luck and it saved us again."

"Great." Nate said, "Let's go."

They pressed onward, finally reaching a large room. Sitting on the other side was a stone roughly the size of a large house cat, floating above the icy floor. The levistone.

"Careful." Tom said, holding them back, "The floor has cracks in it. Only one of us can go. Who's the lightest?"

Everyone turned to Sami. "What? Me? Oh, alright." She dropped her satchel and pulled off her outer robe, revealing a second thinner robe underneath. She handed her stuff to Tom and then dropped to her hands and knees, then lay down on her stomach. She inched forward, avoiding the larger cracks, and eased up to the levistone. The ice cracked and groaned and Sami wimpered but kept going. Finally she reached the levistone.

She carefully put an arm around the levistone and pulled it towards her.

She was halfway back when a disturbing roar echoed through the room. Sami glanced back and, to her and everybody else's horror, saw a giant eye was bearing down on her. She hurried back as fast as she could, but the eye was faster.

A ball of ice slammed the eye, causing it to reel. Nate prepared another and launched it. Lily shot a thunderbolt at the eyeball and Nate added fire to the mix. Sami got back to the group right as Nate's eyes went wide.

"Uh oh..."

BOOM!

The fire had melted some ice, which the thunderbolt had vaporized in the wrong way. The spark of Nate's fire lit the gas, and the floor of the room vanished in a blaze of flame.

When the steam cleared the room was floor-less and the giant eye nowhere to be seen. Nate helped Sami to her feet.

"Sorry about that. You alright?" He said as he picked her up.

"Yeah, fine." Sami grunted, then shivered. "Now let's go somewhere where we can light a fire."

Nate lit his hand. "After that, I don't blame you."

Sami picked up her robe, satchel, and hammer. "Let's go."

They made short work of getting out of the caves, and once Sami stopped shivering they shoved off for the desert.


	23. The Airship

Chapter 22: The Airship

They arrived at the desert easily enough. As they got close all they saw was sand, mounds and dunes and trails of sand.

"We're supposed to find a ship of some kind here?" Sami asked skeptically. She took a step onto the sand, holding the levistone.

The ground shook and the levistone shot down into the sand and disappeared. A rift appeared in the sand and a large, whirling _something_ rose.

The sand settled and sitting there in front of them was a ship, except instead of sails and rigging there were whirling things kicking up dust.

"An airship." Lily said in awe, "I've only heard of them. They can fly over anything."

They boarded the airship and looked around. It was practically designed, with little ornamentation and less decoration. Soon they found the control room. A single high-backed chair sat behind a desk with buttons, knobs, levers, and a control column. Nate sat in the chair and looked at the panels.

"Let's see..." he said, looking things over, "I think this starts the engines." he said, pulling back a lever. There was a whirring and the ship shifted. Sand started whipping up in front of the forward window. "Good, now this one should control speed." He pulled another lever slightly and the engines grew louder. "And this..." he said, taking a grip on the steering column, "this should let us fly." He gently pulled back on it.

The airship lurched, then started to rise. Sami looked out one of the many windows in the control room.

"We're flying!" she said excitedly, "This thing really can fly!"

Nate turned the airship and started heading back to the river. Tom glanced out the window and paled.

"Uh, Tom?" Lily asked, concerned, "Do you feel alright?"

"I just discovered something." he said, "I'm terrified of heights."

"You're _what?_" Lily asked.

"I was raised on a farm. The highest off the ground I ever got was the back of a horse."

"What about towers?" Lily asked, "You were fine on those."

"Those were made of stone." Tom said, "Something solid. This thing's being held up by...by...whirlymagigs."

"Propeller, actually." Nate said, "I think their called propellers."

"Whatever they're called, they don't act like stone." Tom said. He pulled himself away from the window.

"In that case you and Lily should take the boat back." Sami said.

"Why me and Tom?" asked Lily, "If he isn't feeling well, shouldn't you be the one to take him?"

"He'll be fine once he's firmly on the ground." Sami said, "Besides, Nate's the only one who can fly this thing and you're the best sailor. So there."

Lily smirked. "Alright. You win."

"Glad you got that settled, because we're about to land." Nate said. He gently pushed forward on the column and pushed back the speed lever.

The engines gunned down and there was a soft thump as the airship touched down. Tom (happy to be back on ground) and Lily disembarked and boarded the boat. They shoved off and Nate hovered nearby as they sailed. While they floated downriver Tom and Lily talked.

"Do you believe what Sami said?" Lily asked as they sailed along, "Her excuses to stay aboard the airship?"

"They were logical, but I don't think they were the real reasons." Tom replied.

Lilly nodded.

"You know Sami best." Tom said after a minute. "Do you think she's warming up to Nate?"

A laugh escaped from Lily. "It's hard for her not to. Sami needs a good listener. Nate is good at listening. She claims his clumsiness and obliviousness is annoying, but she really finds it funny. She just won't admit it."

Tom grunted. "Good. I'm just glad she stopped trying to pick fights with him. He's either really oblivious and clueless or really hard to offend, because he just brushed her off. Or agreed with her."

Lily shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised if he actually liked her."

"Like or like-like?"

Again Lily shrugged. "Either. Sami's really quite attractive once she changes out of those robes. I wouldn't be surprised if he fell for her at the ball, she looked stunning in the dress."

Tom raised an eyebrow. "Just as long as you're not jealous." he said with a smirk, "She may have been the fairest at the ball, but you weren't behind by far at all."

Lily smiled and blushed slightly. "Why Tom. Was that a compliment?"

Tom's face turned red as a tomato. "Yes...er...no...um, it was a statement of fact. That's it, a statement of fact."

Lily just laughed.

Back aboard the airship things were pretty quiet. Nate was toying with some controls, trying to figure out what they did. Sami was watching from a distance. She was biting her lip, as if she wanted to ask something. Finally, she said, "How did you know how to fly this thing?"

Nate stopped messing with the control and set it back to the original position. "I'm not sure." he said, "But this lever" he pointed to the starter, "has one abnormal design, indicating start up. This one" he pointed at the speed lever, "has markings that seem to indicate how fast compared to this gauge. This" he now pointed to the control stick, "is the only one large enough to easily steer this thing and so that's probably what it does. Oh, there's the landing gear." He pushed a lever and with a series of clunks the landing gear folded back into the ship.

"And how did you know that?" she asked.

He pointed to a set of pictures near the lever, then looked under the dashboard. "Hey, pedals. I wonder what they do..." He pushed gently on one and the ship sped up. He pushed on the other and the ship slowed down. "Ah, so that lever's a gear shift. That makes sense."

"A what?" Sami asked.

"Gear shift. In this case it sets the maximum cruising speed, which in this case is...a squiggly line and a funny symbol."

Sami looked at the gauge. "Are you sure that says our speed?"

"It's the only one that changed when I hit the pedals." Nate said, shrugging. For a moment the only sound was the whirring of the engines and the chopping sound of the propellers. Finally, Nate said, "Uh, Sami? I don't know if I said this before, but thanks for all those times you patched me up."

"You're welcome, and you did say thanks before." Sami replied. Another relative moment of silence and Sami said, "Thanks again for saving me from the vampire and lich."

"You're welcome, though I was just keeping a promise."

The silence returned again, and soon it became awkward. Sami suddenly gestured to the door. "I'm going to go check out the rest of the ship." she said quickly.

"Yeah, okay." Nate replied quickly. Once Sami had left he slumped deeper into the chair. He had a feeling he hadn't been that good around women in his previous live. And why was he nervous when alone with Sami?

Sami hurried down the center hall of the airship before stopping in a sitting room. Her conversation with Nate was not a kind she was used to. Besides, he was a black mage. Black mages couldn't be trusted, right? Then why when she had nightmares about the vampire and lich Nate always appeared and saved her?


	24. Return to Crescent Lake

Chapter 23: Return to Crescent Lake...Again

They arrived at Crescent Lake easy enough. The sight of a flying ship sent most monsters scurrying.

It seemed like the entire population of Crescent Lake had come out to see the airship. Nate succeeded in landing it more gently than the first time, and soon the four Warriors of Light were greeted by the cheer of the town. After being barraged with questions on how it worked (the Light Warriors didn't know), how to fly it (Nate wouldn't tell) and begging to know how they had gotten it (that they did answer), Maron caught up with them.

"Hi guys." she said nervously, "I've got bad news and good news."

"Do we dare ask?" Sami asked.

"The bad news is that the _Maiden's Voyage_ is in dry dock. Someone blasted a hole in her side. She can be repaired easily enough, but she'll be out of commission for two months."

"What's the good news?" Tom asked.

Maron held up a map. "This. It's a detailed map of the northern continents and islands, including the location of the water crystal."

"Excellent. That makes up for the Maiden's Voyage mishap, now that we've got the airship. But we'll get the Maiden's Voyage fixed up. I don't think I for one could handle an airship as a primary form of transportation." Tom said, smiling.

"I don't know." Nate said, slightly mischievously, "I kind of like it. Faster than ships, easy to steer, comfortable..."

"Absolutely not!" Tom replied, wide-eyed, "No more than needed!"

"Wimp." Sami smirked, "Come on, I braved over a month of seasickness. Nate says it can probably get from here to Elfheim in about twelve hours if he kicks the speed up."

"Well," Tom said, looking like he would rather avoid it, "I guess as long as I don't look out the window, I'll be fine."

"That's the spirit." Sami said, patting him on the back, "Let's get our things and go."

"They're at the inn." Maron said, "I brought them from the boat."

Lily raised an eyebrow. Maron looked slightly uncomfortable.

"Okay, okay, I had a little help." Lily's gaze didn't waver. "Fine, I had a lot of help! Just stop it, it burns!"

Lily smiled. "That's better."

They lugged their things onto the airship with enough food and water for two weeks. After a night at the inn and another goodbye to Lukhan they went north.


	25. The Citadel of Trials, a Rat's Tail, and

Chapter 24: The Citadel of Trials, a Rat's Tail, and a Fairy

"We're lost."

"I know."

"How are we going to figure out where we are?"

"We're over a desert, and I think that's a caravan down there."

"Should we ask for directions?"

"Sounds good."

Nate tried to put the ship down on the sand, but it shifted.

"I'll just drop you off here and hover until you're ready."

"Deal."

Sami, Tom, and Lily climbed down the rope ladder and entered the caravan.

"Ahhh, greetings." a merchant said, "Can I interest you in some of my wares?"

"Actually, we just need directions." Tom said.

"I don't know, but my memory might be jogged if you look at my wares."

"Fine. Let's see them." Tom said.

"Ahh, very well." the merchant said, "I have a special item today. A real fairy."

Tom raised an eyebrow. "A fairy?"

The merchant pulled out a bottle. Inside, looking rather cramped, was a fairy.

"Hmm..." Lily said, taking it from him," I don't know. It doesn't look real."

"It's only 40,000 gold." the merchant said oily.

"Nah, I'm not sure." Lily said, "It doesn't look like it's in good health."

"How about 35,000 gold." the merchant wheedled.

"Hmm..."

"Twenty-thousand! Final offer!"

Lily smiled. "Deal." Lily dropped twenty one-thousand pieces in the merchant's hand.

"Great. Now, where are we?" Tom asked.

"You're in the desert on the north-west continent."

Sami looked closely at the map. "That's over a hundred and fifty miles west of the original course. Huh."

"Well, let's go." Lily said, holding the bottled fairy.

"Pleasure doing business with you." the merchant said.

Sami waited til the merchant couldn't see them anymore and rolled her eyes.

Back on board the airship Sami informed Nate of the error. He muttered something and set course due east. Lily was speaking to the fairy, finding out that the fairy wanted to get back to Gaia. The fairy promised to get them some oxistone from a pond in Gaia if they let her go, which they would need to enter the water temple.

_BARRAP! BARRAP!_

An alarm went off in the control room. Nate called the rest to the control room.

"One of the propellers has jammed." he said, "We'll have to land to clear it out. Besides, the sun's starting to set."

The airship jerked as the jammed propeller halted. Nate struggled to control the craft, then pulled a knob. The jerking stopped, but they had slowed down quite a bit.

"There, just ahead." Sami said, pointing. A castle jutted from the ground, a small clear area perfectly sized for the airship.

Nate managed to set their airship down right as the sun set, then went to check the propeller while the rest disembarked. A moment later Nate reappeared, shaking his head.

"It's too dark right now to fix it. We'll have to wait until morning." he said solemnly.

Lily looked at the castle. "Think we should ask to stay the night?"

"Probably." Sami replied, "I wouldn't be too happy if a ship dropped from the sky and landed on my lawn without telling me."

"Alright." Tom said, "Let's go."

They knocked on the door, but nobody answered. They knocked again, and still nobody answered. Finally they just went in.

"Whoa!" Maron whispered with wide eyes. They were in a massive room with ornately carved pillars depicting great heroes and viscous beasts.

An old man hobbled in. "Ah, new adventurers to challenge the Citadel of Trials? Excellent."

"Uh, no, actually we just wanted to know if we could leave our ship here until morning." Tom said nervously.

The old man was now pushing them to a room off the massive chamber. "Yes, yes, fine, this way." They were 'shown' to a room with a throne on it. "You won't see me, but once you're done you should visit the Dragon King. Once you have claimed your badge of courage that is. If you survive." The old man cackled and shoved them onto the throne. There was a flash of light and they were there no more.

"It's dark in here." Lily.

"No duh." Sami.

"I could light my hand but someone's sitting on it." Nate.

"Maron, are you on my face?" Tom.

"No, I think I'm on top of Sami." Maron.

"I think I'm the one of your head. Just a second." Lily.

"Ow!" Tom again.

"Sorry." Lily.

"Hey, my hand's free. Just a moment..." Nate's hand lit and the small room they were in was made visible.

They untangled themselves and left. The next room was lit with torches, so Nate put out his hand. The room was empty except for a raised circle of stone with yellow light beaming up to another circle on the ceiling.

"What's that?" Maron asked, curiosity rising.

Nate approached it. "I don't know." he said quizzically. He reached out and touched it...and vanished.

From another room they heard the sound of a fire spell, the clacking of boots pounding the stone, another fire spell, and Nate suddenly popped out of nowhere.

"Teleporters." he said, "One way, occasional monsters, dragons of some kind. They don't like fire or lightning, so we're ready for them."

"Well, those teleporters are the only way out." Tom resignedly said, "Charge."

They filed through the teleporter, then another, then another. They kept wandering, eventually finding themselves in a long, thin, dark corridor. The stink of something dead assailed their nostrils.

"Ugg. What's that smell? Something die in here?" Maron said, pinching her nose.

Nate lit his hand and raised it and everyone glanced around. "Oh...crap..." Sami said, looking down the room. Two giant, ugly, nasty, and very dead minotaurs were stomping towards them.

Maron looked nervous. "This is going to hurt, isn't it."

Lily nodded. "Most likely."

Nate launched a fireball at them, but they didn't seem affected.

"Yes Maron." he said, "This is going to hurt."

Tom rushed one as Nate and Lily launched lightning bolts. He stabbed one in the gut, but when he pulled out his sword green goo gushed out.

"Oh, that's sick." Maron said, following Tom's lead and slashing away with her cutlass.

Nate switched tactics and blasted the minotaur zombies with ice. The ice built up and stopped them in their tracks, giving the others a chance to attack. Sami blasted them with Dia, while Nate lashed out with fire and Lily used Icebrand to hold them down. Maron succeeded in slicing off one of the minotaur's arms, while Tom severed a leg.

Sami unleashed a spectacular Dia, even by her standards, and the zombies fell to dust.

"Well," Maron said, shaking slightly, "that's wasn't so bad."

They continued, eventually finding the stairs to the next floor. More teleporters. Joy.

As they walked they encountered another minotaur zombie. Nate didn't give this one a chance. He lashed out with a fire spell so powerful that it actually gouged the walls.

"Why didn't you do that before?" Maron asked.

"I wasn't expecting them, so I didn't have time to build up an attack." Nate answered.

They kept on walking. Finally, they arrived at the third floor. A chest lay in front of them and a throne behind it.

"Who's opening the chest?" Maron asked.

Sami pushed Nate forward. "I guess I am." he said. He opened the chest and searched it. "This is it?" he asked at last. "This is a symbol of courage?" He held out what appeared to be a rat's tail.

"Ugg. Rats." Maron said with a grimace, "Nasty critters."

"Maybe we should've grabbed a minotaur horn." Sami suggested.

"Already did." Nate answered. From his bottomless satchel he pulled a minotaur horn. "See? One step ahead for once."

"We probably ought to take the rat's tail, just in case." Tom said, "Maybe there's something special about it."

Nate nodded and placed it in his bag with the minotaur horn. "I don't know about anyone else, but I'm ready to get out of here."

"Agreed." everyone else said in unison. They all joined hands and Nate touched the throne. A second later they were back in the big room.


	26. The Dragon King and Gaia

Chapter 25: The Dragon King and Gaia

Following the old man's advice (against their better judgment) they quickly found the Dragon Isles. Luck had it that the first island they landed on was the right one.

"That didn't take long." Sami said, "Nice job on the repair, by the way."

"It was just a little sand." Nate replied, "Nothing a few moments with a knife can't fix."

They entered the cave and were greeted by a friendly dragon that spoke the same language as they did. They were quickly brought to the Dragon King.

The Dragon King was massive, like the dragons from the storybooks and fairy tales. He looked them over before he spoke.

"Greetings young warriors." he said, his voice a deep bass, "Have you brought a symbol of your courage?"

Nate opened his bag, pulling out several things. The piscodemon dummy, a knife, a metal ball, and the minotaur horn.

"Those are your symbols of courage?" the Dragon King asked.

"Nope." Nate said, holding something up. "This is." He held the rat's tail.

"Good." the Dragon King said, "Very good. To each of you I grant an increase in your strength. Your blows will land harder and your spells more powerful. Use it wisely."

"Thank you, my lord." Tom said, bowing. The others mimicked him and bowed. "Peace be with you."

"And with you, Warriors of Light and friend."

They made it to Gaia with no troubles, and as soon as they entered the town the fairy headed for a spring. When they got there the fairy was nowhere to be seen, though a beautiful young woman was sitting near the spring. She looked up at them and smiled.

"Thank you for saving me." she said, "I shouldn't have run off like that, but I'm so glad to be back home."

"That's right." Lily said suddenly, "Fairies can change their size at will."

The fairy nodded. "Now I'll fulfill my promise and get you the oxistone." She stood and changed back to her tiny size, then dove into the spring. She returned a moment later carrying five stones. She handed one stone to each of the Light Warriors and Maron. "There. Now you can enter the Water Temple." She smiled again, then said, "Good luck, Warriors of Light. Farewell."

Before anyone could say anything she changed back to her small size and shot off. They turned and made for the airship.


	27. The Water Temple

Chapter 26: The Water Temple

They flew through the night and arrived at Onrar, the city where the water shrine was, about mid-morning. After all their traveling they took the day off and rested at the inn, and in the morning they were in much better moods.

A man was standing on a small dock, a barrel large enough to hold all five of them was waiting. Apparently the barrel was the way to the Sunken Shrine. As Tom talked over the details of operation, Maron and Lily talked.

"And why am I coming with you again?" Maron asked.

"Because it's getting too dangerous to leave anyone alone around here. Talk's been going around about gigas around here, and you don't want to mess with them."

"But...but couldn't I just stay at the inn?" Maron nervously asked.

"Wasn't it just a few days ago you were begging to come with us?" Sami asked.

"Yes, but now that it's actually here, well...I guess I'm nervous." Maron replied.

"It always is hard." Lily said quietly, "We just make it look easy."

Tom came over. "Okay, everything's set. Let's get going."

Everyone pulled out their snorkels, an invention of Nate's. They were made of a kind of sturdy reed that bent in a j-shape. Nate had placed the oxistones inside the reeds and used tar to seal them in place. They entered the barrel, closed the lid, put on their snorkels, and descended.

The snorkels worked well, though it was almost impossible to talk. They started swimming towards what they hoped was the way to the crystal.

Naturally they couldn't go far without being accosted. Several saghan swooped in at them. Lily held out her hand like she was going to cast a spell.

Something sparked in Nate's brain. Water, electricity, conduction. Then his eyes went wide.

"No!" he tried to shout, but it was too late. Lily's lightning spell came loose and shocked the Light Warriors. The saghan laughed.

Nate shook his head and blasted the saghan with a fire spell, which turned into steaming jets of scalding hot water. The saghan fled before those.

"What..." Lily said as her head started to clear.

"Wa'er co'ducts 'lectricity." Nate said through the snorkel, "Ligh'in' is 'lectricity."

Lily nodded. "'Ight. Won' 'appen 'gain."

They continued to swim, going farther and farther into the shrine. Nate became the main offensive unit with his hot water attacks.

They finally reached the room with the crystal. The room still had air in it, musty though it was. They flopped down on the floor and rested for a while. They could see the crystal, but after two-and-a-half hours of swimming they were willing to risk a break.

The water started to ripple, then a rumble sounded. From the water a huge monster sprang and roared. "I AM THE KRAKEN! FIEND OF WATER! DIE!"

"Great." Nate said, dodging a tentacle, "We're being attacked by a giant piece of sushi."

"What's sushi?" Lily asked after performing a perfect front-flip to dodge another tentacle.

"A type of food made with fish, including octopus. Kinda like these tentacles, but cut up and dipped in sauce, rice, and seaweed." Nate explained as he rolled out of the way of one of the tentacles.

"Yuck!" Maron said, severing a tentacle with her cutlass, "That doesn't even sound appetizing."

"Agreed." Tom said as the sliced open another tentacle.

Nate failed to dodge a tentacle and was picked up by his wrists. Another grabbed his legs and tried to pull him apart.

There were several sickening _pops_ as Nate's shoulders and hips were dislocated. His eyes seemed to roll up and close. A crackle suddenly sounded, and with the same power and impressiveness as his fire spell at Marsh Cave a bolt of lightning shot through the Kraken. While it failed to kill it, it did buy them time.

Sami jumped up on the Kraken's back, racing to the head. She swung her hammer and delivered a crushing blow to the head, then another, and finally a third.

The Kraken groaned one last time and fell back into the water. Sami jumped off and landed lithely on the floor, while Nate just crashed down.

Sami started heading for Nate when he regained consciousness. "No." he said weakly, "Tom can put my limbs back in. Light the orb, then worry about me."

Sami stopped and turned. She pulled out her orb and approached the crystal. Her orb twinkled, then glowed. The crystal glinted in return, and when Sami touched the crystal with her orb it flared and glowed like the sun when seen from under the water.

There were four pops as Tom and Lily put Nate back together. Through the pain, he managed to say, "Three down, one more." Then a cracking sound began, and everyone looked up. Water was dripping from the ceiling and cracks were appearing.

"Snorkels on." Nate said, grimacing while he put his snorkel in. A massive piece of the ceiling fell and water poured into the room. They barely had time to secure their snorkels before the force of the water slammed into them, throwing them into unconscious oblivion.


	28. The Mermaid's Rosetta Stone

Chapter 27: The Mermaid's Rosetta Stone

Maron regained consciousness quite suddenly. She didn't move, didn't open her eyes, she just listened. She was still under water, her snorkel still in her mouth. The pressure on her ears was less than it had been right before the Kraken, so they were higher up. She opened her eyes.

A mermaid was standing (looming? Floating?) over her. "Good, you're awake." the mermaid said in a musical voice, "You took quite the hit when the ceiling crashed in on you."

"'Ere am I?" Maron asked through the snorkel.

"You are on the top floor of the sunken shrine, the home of the mermaids." she said, "When the ceiling fell in on you, you floated up here. My friends and I brought you here so we could tend you."

"'Ow is 'ate?" Maron asked.

"The black mage? Still unconscious I'm afraid. He took quite the beating, though he should have died."

"'E's tough, 'at's 'er sure." Maron said.

"Tell me," the mermaid said, "are there any who still speak Lufenian in the dry world?"

"'Ere wa' a man 'antin' to learn it." Maron replied, "'aid 'e couldn' qui'e figure it out."

"Really?" the mermaid looked surprised, "Then take this to him." she handed Maron a tablet, "It has the same thing written on both sides, one in Lufenian and one in another language. We can't read either, but we have a copy of this tablet just in case."

"'Ank you." Maron took the tablet.

"'Aron, 'ank goodness you're a' right." Lily had just swum in with Tom and Sami. For some reason Maron never noticed before how creepy Sami looked with her robes and hair floating around her.

"Is 'ate around?" Tom asked.

"Righ' here." Nate said as he swam in. He moved gingerly, but wasn't passing out.

"Goo'." Sami said, "I don't think our skin 'ill 'ake 'uch 'ore 'ime under wa'er."

"Then go." the mermaid said, "We hope our aid is a sign of our appreciation for your victory over the Kraken."

"'And 'ou." Maron replied, "'E a'recia'ed it." The Warriors of Light left, taking the barrel back to the surface.

Maron told the rest about the Rosetta Stone while they rested (and while Sami helped heal Nate) and they made a decision.

"We're going back to Melmond." Tom said, "I don't know why, other than to deliver the Rosetta Stone to Dr. Unne, but we're going."

"Great." Nate said, flexing his stiff shoulders. Sami had done a good job, but the joints were sure stiff from the lack of motion. "I think Dr. Unne would be ecstatic if we brought it to him."

Ecstatic was a mild way of putting it. Dr. Unne was jumping for joy.

"You did it! You did it! Everything I've been missing, it's right here! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" He danced around the room, hugged Tom and Nate, then kissed Sami, Lily, and Maron on the cheek. Then he left the room, still jumping up and down.

"Wow." Nate said, stunned.

"You can say that again." Sami said.

"Wow."

Sami rolled her eyes. "Oh brother." she muttered.

They spent the night at Melmond, and Nate picked up a new spell: teleport. He couldn't really use it properly, but practiced with it anyway.

The next morning Dr. Unne visited them again. "I wish to thank you properly for the Rosetta Stone. I'm afraid I got...carried away yesterday. It's just that I've spent so long trying to decipher the language, but was always missing bits and pieces. The Rosetta Stone solved all of them. If you wish, I could teach it to you. It's really simple, you could learn it in a week."

"Well..." Sami said.

"I'll learn it." Nate said, "It might come in handy someday."

"Yeah, right." Lily agreed.

"Couldn't hurt." Tom consented.

"Cool." Maron agreed.

"Fine." Sami said.

All day every day for a week Dr. Unne taught them Lufenian. Nate picked it up almost like he knew it, making few mistakes. Sami, on the other hand, struggled. Finally they all had at least a rudimentary knowledge of Lufenian. Dr. Unne, after congratulating them, gave them one last piece of information.

"The Rosetta Stone tells that the final crystal is in a place called the Sky Fortress. It does not say how to get to it, but it does mention the descendants of the Sky People may have created a village south-east of Gaia. I hope that helps."

Tom nodded. "It does. Thank you again, and farewell."

Dr. Unne nodded. "Farewell. 'Til we meet again."


	29. Revelation

Chapter 28: Revelation

While they could see the rumored city, there was no way to land near it. The ground was either forest, swampy, or rocky. In the end they set down a good four or five day's walk from the city. Sami grumbled about this, but Lily talked to her.

"Look at it like this." Lily coaxed, "We've been so pampered by the ships that we've all put on some weight. This is a good time to take that weight off again." Sami muttered something but stopped complaining.

They walked for several hours. The woods were quiet, too quiet. Everyone was tensed, alert. A knife whistled by, missing Nate by inches and cutting off a stray lock of Sami's hair.

"RUN!" Tom shouted, blocking another knife with his shield. The Warriors of Light dashed off, dodging knives and scrambling over vines. They emerged into a rocky clearing, finding their path cut off by a cliff.

"Crap." Sami snarled. No one argued.

"So" a nasty voice gloated, "the Light Warriors are trapped. How pathetic."

The Light Warriors spun about. A man in dark armor (at least, they thought it was a man) was standing in front of them. An army was pouring out of the woods and filling the field they were in. "Your quest ends here. Now, you die." He looked at them, then said, "Except you." He was pointing at Sami. "You will make a fine addition to my harem."

"Over my dead body." Sami snarled.

"Brave words. Perhaps you will learn a lesson in pain and be more cooperative."

Nate felt a burning anger rise in him. A red tinge filled his vision, and he knew what to do.

"HADOKEN!" he shouted, raising his hands. A brilliant blue blast erupted from his hands, carving a wedge out of the army. He blasted another, and everything in its path was annihilated. Arrows and knives were being thrown at him, but were vaporized by the sheer power of the spell. The monster army was vanishing in blue energy.

The army was gone. The field was charred black and leveled, except for the space around the Light Warriors.

Tom, Lily, Sami, and Maron just stared. Nate was just standing, looking at the remains of the battlefield but not seeing it. Memories came flooding back. A girl he had liked. A guy who was the only thing standing in his way. A fight. Blood. Blood covering his hands. No. He was dead. The guy was dead.

He was back in the field. He turned back to the other Light Warriors slowly, very slowly. He and Sami locked eyes. For a second they stared at each other. Then they spoke at the same time.

"You monster!" Sami shouted, upset.

"No! Stay away from me!" Nate shouted. Sami turned and ran. Nate had teleported before anyone could say anything. Tom, Lily, and Maron were left standing in the decimated field.

They found Sami near a lake. Lily told Tom and Maron to set up camp a ways away and then approached Sami.

Sami heard Lily walking up. "He's just like them. He's a killer just like them."

"He was protecting us." Lily said, "Both from the army and himself."

"No. He didn't care. He's as bad as they were."

"You saw his eyes. We all did. He had the look of a man whose worst fears had been realized. While you ran he teleported. He was afraid."

"He was saving his skin."

"You didn't hear him. He shouted at us to stay away from him. He was afraid of hurting us."

"Perhaps." Sami sighed, "It's just...that was the spell...they used..."

"I understand. I would be upset too. But maybe he's as unhappy as you."

"Maybe." Sami sighed again, "If we meet again, I will explain my pain to him."

"And maybe he will tell you his."

"Maybe." Sami said, "Maybe."

That night a shadow appeared in camp. Tom was keeping watch, but the shadow appeared silently and behind Tom. It was Nate, though he was unnaturally silent. He pulled out his orb and placed it next to Maron. The he vanished. From his new place in the forest he looked in the direction of the camp. "You're the fourth Light Warrior now, Maron. Good luck."


	30. The Other Black Mage

Chapter 29: The Other Black Mage

"He was here!"

Maron had woken up early and found the orb near her. Everyone else was up in a flash.

"Are you sure that's his orb?" Sami asked.

"Positive." Maron replied, "He must have been here during the night."

"He must think he's not a Warrior of Light anymore." Lily said, "I wonder what would make him think that."

Sami looked forlorn. "He once told me that his greatest fear was him finding out he was a bad person before his amnesia, and that he would go back to it. Perhaps that's what he found out, that he was a bad person in his previous life."

"Well, there's nothing we can do to bring him back." Tom said sadly, "If he left his orb then he doesn't intend to return. Maron, you get to take his place if you want to."

"I will." Maron nodded, "Until he returns."

They continued walking, making it halfway to the city before making camp. The going was so hard they all fell asleep without setting a watch.

In the middle of the night someone entered the camp. The robe and hat seemed similar to a black mage's, but the clouded sky and dead fire meant no light to see by.

The shadowy thing stepped over Maron, Lily, and Tom and stood over Sami. "So Sami." an eerie voice whispered, "Here you are. And soon you will be dead." The tiny bit of light from the embers glinted off a silvery blade.

A fireball shot from the edge of the clearing and sent the knife into the underbrush. Another dark figure tackled the first and they went down fighting.

The commotion woke the others and Lily lit a fire. Two black mages were wrestling on the ground. There was a crackle and they went flying apart. The clouds parted and the moon shone its light on the two black mages.

"So, you came back." the first snarled in its genderless voice.

"Yes, I did." said the other. It was Nate. "And I will not let you threaten my friends!"

"Humph. A change of heart?"

"You could say that." Nate said, "I knew what I had been. I was distraught. I was horrible. Then I remembered something Sami told me. She told me that even if I was a bad person, I could choose. I did, and now I'm going to be good or die trying."

"Then die." the other said. It raised a hand and lightning shot out. Nate countered with a fire spell and the two collided in midair. The other shot balls of ice at Nate, who melted them with more fire.

Fire, lightning, and ice flew back and forth, exploding and hissing. Nate whipped out his staff and started physically attacking his opponent. The fight went on for a quarter of an hour, spells and staves flying. Finally, the other spoke.

"You are strong." it said, "But you are not invincible. Die."

A rift in the earth appeared and the ground rose up around him, swallowing Nate like it had the lich. The other laughed.

"Good. He's gone. Now Sami, do you realize the true power of black magic?"

"Who are you?" Sami shouted, "What have we ever done to you?"

One of the black mage's eyes seemed to rise, as if an eyebrow was going up. "You don't recognize your own sister?"

Sami's eyes became as round as dinner plates. "No. It can't be. She's dead. I saw her die. She's dead!"

"Yes, you saw me die. But looks can be deceiving. I was not dead. I was waiting. The black mages took me, trained me. Now I am the most powerful of all black mages! None can stand against me!"

The earth cracked and blue light speared out. The other black mage barely had time to move before the Hadoken spell burst forth, leaving a large hole in the ground. Nate emerged, breathing heavily.

"I'm not dead yet." he said. The other black mage was stunned, and Nate took advantage of this. His lightning lanced out, paralyzing his opponent. He then used fireballs to disarm her, then bound her.

"I made a choice." he panted, "Now it's your turn." then he passed out.

"How pathetic." sneered the black mage, "How weak." Tom drew his sword, but Sami had already run up and slapped her.

"How dare you!" she shouted, "He was thousands of times stronger than you could ever hope to be!"

"I don't pass out so easily." the black mage snarled.

"He made a choice! A hard one! One that threw out his personal safety for the good of others!" Sami shouted.

"The choice of the weak." the black mage said.

"The choice of the strong! He understood thing that you could not! For the good of the many, not the good of the one."

"He is weak."

"No." Sami said, "He was not. And if you can't see that, then I have no sister. She is as dead as my parents, whose bones are dust scattered to the wind." she stalked away and said to Tom and Lily, "Do what you want with her. I know her not."

"What is her name?" Lily asked.

Sami turned. "My sister's name was Cali. But Cali is dead and I don't know who that is. She is no sister of mine."

Cali stared at Sami as she left. "But...how can that be?" she whispered.

Tom, Lily, and Maron dragged the two black mages back to camp. Sami healed Nate, but he stayed unconscious for another hour. Cali just stared, a vacant look of disbelief on her eyes.

When Nate did wake, it was quietly. He looked at them, and they looked back. "I'm sorry." he said, "I shouldn't have run off like I did. I was afraid. Afraid I might do something like I did back...back then. But I decided that the Nate of then is no more. That is my choice. I just hope you can forgive me."

"Before I say anything else, I should tell you my story." Sami said, "It may put some things into perspective." Maron stood up to leave, but Sami gestured for her to sit down. "You should hear this too."


	31. Sami's Story

Chapter 30: Sami's Story

"I was nine. I lived in a small village where we grew apples. I was baking a pie when I heard a shout, and I went outside to see what was going on.

"There they were. Black mages rampaging through the village, burning and killing as they went. I saw them stab my parents, my sister, my friends. Then one of them used a spell. The same one Nate used to destroy the army of monsters. I watched as my parents' bodies were vaporized, as our house was annihilated. I saw the destruction of my home, the village, the apple trees, all of it. Then one of them clubbed me over the head, and I passed out.

"That night I should have died. I saw the light in the dark, but a voice called me back. I came, and there I first saw my future mentor. An old man, with a long white beard and blue eyes, a kind smile.

"I was the only one he could save, the only one who had not crossed death's doorstep hours before. He took me in, cared for me. He let me mourn for a time, but then told me I needed to begin carrying for myself and to stop living in the past. I became his apprentice, learned the art of white magic from him. But in my heart I never stopped mourning.

"Then I met Lily. She had just lost her family too, only a year before I had lost mine. I realized I was not the only one to have suffered. And with her help I came to realize just what I needed to do.

"A few years later we met again. Both of us were in Cornelia. She had met Tom by then, and all of us knew of each other's orbs. We started sticking close together, waiting to find the one with the fourth orb. It took several years of waiting before Nate came along. When we met him, saw his orb, we knew the time had come. But I didn't trust him, even though he was friendly and possessed the orb. He was a black mage, and that made him evil.

"Then he saved me, both from enemies and myself. I started letting my guard down, until he shot off the Hadoken spell. Then all the doubts came back, and I hated him again. And like she did nearly a decade ago, Lily brought me back. So much as Nate wants forgiveness from us, I must ask the same from him."

"You only needed to ask." Nate said, "It is yours."

"Same goes to you." Sami said. The others nodded and agreed.

"Well then." Nate said, "How about tomorrow we get to that city and get the last crystal lit. After that all we have to do is find Chaos."

"That reminds me." Maron pulled out her orb and tossed it to Nate, "That's yours."

Nate's eyes smiled. "Thanks."

Cali watched the exchange, strange thoughts going through her mind. Was it possible Sami was right? Was it possible her quest for power was nothing more than a distraction?

Would her adopted family of black mages ever consider doing that for her? No. But this black mage's friends would take him back in. Maybe...

The next morning the Light Warriors packed up camp and made Cali walk with them. She didn't say a word. She was too deep in thought. She didn't notice at all when she stubbed her toes, or even when she heard Nate and Lily talk about her abnormally thick veil. She just needed to think.

They stopped for lunch around noon. Nate brought a chunk of bread and cheese to her and loosed her hands so she could eat.

She ate silently. As they were packing up though, she cracked.

"I don't want it anymore!" she shouted suddenly. Nate dropped his canteen and the others jumped. "I don't want to be alone! I don't want to be a criminal, hunted like a beast! Please, help me!"

The Light Warriors watched her cry. As the cried her black veil began to fade. Soon it was gone, and they could see her face. She appeared to be a few years older than Sami, maybe twenty-five, with a similar face. The biggest difference was her hair, which was black.

"If her veil's gone, she's had a change of heart." Sami said, "Maybe my sister lives after all."

Cali just cried.


	32. Lufenia and Mirage Tower

Chapter 31: Lufenia and Mirage Tower

They sent Cali back to her boat, which was moored somewhere east of their position. She waved, then left.

Another day and they made it to the city. They had never seen a place like this before, with unusual stonework in the buildings and paths into the water that appeared to be for enjoyment only. They saw someone and went to greet him and ask for directions.

"Excuse me, sir." Tom said, "Do you know where the Crystal of Air is?"

"Mu-tah sa no pa ni?" the man asked, confused.

"Lufenian." Nate said. Then, switching to Lufenian, said, "Sorry, we were asking if you know where the Crystal of Air is."

"You are the legendary Warriors of Light, come to restore the balance of the world?" the man replied in Lufenian, "This is wonderful! Come with me." He led them to a square and hit a chime that was standing there. People appeared from houses and streets and converged in the square.

"The Warriors of Light have come!" the man called, "The time has arrived! Elnuv, please come forward!"

An elderly man came forward. "Greetings, Warriors of Light." he said, "You have come to relight the Air Crystal, correct?"

"Correct." Tom said.

"Then here is what you need to know. In the desert directly west of here is a tower, called Mirage Tower. At the top is a portal. That portal takes you to the Sky Fortress, the greatest creation of the People of the Sky. There you will find Tiamat, the Fiend of Air. But before you can face her, or even get into the Sky Fortress, you need to be able to enter the tower." he held out a small chime, "Ring this three times and the door will open. Go now in peace, and succeed where others could not."

The trip to Mirage Tower was devoid of monster attacks, though they were low on water by the time they got there. Tom rang the chime like the elder had said and they entered the Mirage Tower.

A fountain was waiting for them, for which they were extremely grateful. They began their ascent to the top of the tower.

_Clank clank clank clank._

"What was that?" Sami asked, looking around.

"Don't know." Tom replied.

"Sounded like a walking suit of armor."Maron said, "One that needs oiling."

Cautiously they rounded the corner. A metal man was doing something to a console, and then turned. It caught sight of them and whirred.

"WelCOMe MASters." it said, "We have waitED SO LONG for you. PleASE, follOW me." It turned and started clanking forward, then up the stairs.

While its gravelly voice was slightly irritating, it led them to the top of the tower. Several other robots were waiting for them.

"Take Warp cuBE and go to SKY FORtress. Defeat Tiamat. Good luck." the robot said. It handed them a cube and guided them to a shimmering tile. "Step ON Tile to waRP to Sky FORTress. Use waRP cube to return here."

The Warriors of Light grabbed hold of the warp cube, braced themselves, and stood on the tile.


	33. Tiamat of the Sky Fortress

Chapter 32: Tiamat of the Sky Fortress

They appeared in what must have been an entry way when the place was manned. Now it was dead silent. They traveled through the deserted corridors, looking around, half expecting something to jump at them.

_Clank clank clank._ Another robot was standing before them.

"WelCOme viSITors. You must have come TO SEE the obsERVation platform. FOLLOW me."

They followed the robot to a glass window in the floor. They could see four points, the locations of the crystals. From the locations a mist seemed to flow. They all converged on one point.

"Chaos Shrine!" Tom said, pointing to the spot, "That's the way to Chaos!"

"Huh." Nate said, "Now that you say it, it seems rather obvious."

"Whatever." Sami said, "Now we know exactly where the creep's hiding!"

"Thanks." Nate said to the robot. It whirred in response.

As they continued they came across a glowing terminal. "Interesting." Nate said as he touched it. It glowed slightly brighter and changed. "Ah. Okay." he tapped several symbols, and several more appeared.

"'Analyzing Tiamat.'" he read, "'No elemental weakness.' Only her heart seems to be her Achilles Heel."

"Her what?" Lily asked.

"Sorry. Her weak spot." Nate said, "This'll be a hard one."

They continued, finally reaching the final floor. They entered a room and there, sitting on a pedestal, was the Crystal of Air.

"So, you have come." a voice said, "The Lich, Marilith, the Kracken, dead. However, it is fitting that the last creature you see is I. I am Tiamat, Fiend of Air! DIE!"

Tiamat emerged from behind the crystal. She looked like a many-headed dragon. She charged, and the battle was on.

The terminal was right, she didn't have a weakness. Nate's spells were absorbed, and none of the weapons could do anything.

Nate was slammed into a wall, followed shortly by everybody but Tom. Tiamat knocked Tom over and smashed the blade of his sword.

"Fitting, a warrior's sword to be broken before he is." Tiamat said. Tom grabbed the hilt, a foot of blade still attached. He jumped Tiamat, a move she hadn't expected, and thrust the remains of his sword through her heart.

Tiamat screamed, then fell. Tom got off with the hilt of his sword just before she crashed into the ground and disintegrated into dust.

Nate stood, took out his orb, and approached the crystal. He stopped a few feet from it, though.

"What are you waiting for?" Sami asked, "Light the crystal."

"I...I'm afraid." Nate said.

"Of what? Tiamat's dead!" Maron said.

"What if my orb is fake? What if it doesn't work?" Nate said.

"Try anyway!" Sami shouted.

Nate took a tentative step forward, then another. He touched the crystal with his orb.

Nothing happened.

The other Light Warriors watched, a look of fear and horror in their faces. It hadn't worked.

The orb suddenly glowed and the crystal glimmered. Then it shone bright, just like the others had.

There was a collective sigh of relief. Nate laughed, and they started to leave.

On their way out, Nate spotted something. It was a metal rod, the kind smiths made from metal ore if they didn't know what it was to be used for. He picked it up. Etched on it was a single word.

"Adamantite." he read.

Everyone stopped and turned. "Wasn't that the metal Smyth was looking for?" Lily asked.

"Yes." Tom nodded, "It was. We should bring it to him on our way to Cornelia."

Everyone nodded and Nate stashed it in his bag. They then left the fortress and returned to Lufenia.


	34. Excalibur and Cornelia

Chapter 33: Excalibur and Cornelia

After another three day hike through the desert and two more through swamps and dense forest they arrived at Lufenia. Then, after telling their story ten times they took another four day hike to their airship. Just like Lily had promised, the walking had done their figures good.

Tom was the only unhappy one. The sword Tiamat had broken had been a family heirloom, and he wasn't happy about losing all but the hilt and a foot of blade. While Lily had lent him Icebrand until he could get a new sword, he still wasn't happy.

The winds were favorable that day though and they made it to Mount Druergar in eight hours. Smyth was ecstatic about the adamantite and demanded to hear their story.

Once he had all the details, he looked at the adamantite. "Thank thee." he said, "It's a miracle I'd never though' I'd see. Bu there's na enough to craft a full sword." He looked at Tom. "Yer sword wa' busted, righ'? If yeh like, I could take ta adamantite and yehr sword an' merge tem. Yehr family heirloom would be better than ever."

Tom looked at him. You could do that?" he asked, "Then I accept." He pulled out the remains of his sword and handed it to Smyth. Smyth in turn went to his forge and began working.

Smyth was at it for many hours, hammering away, melting the metals together, reforging the sword. It wasn't until about two hours 'til midnight that he finished.

Smyth brought out a beautiful sword. While the hilt was the same, and the blade was the same size as it had been, the silvery metal and ornate carvings along the blade made it an astounding weapon. Smyth handed it to Tom.

"Tha' blade cannot break." he said happily, "I merged ta adamantite wit ta hilt, so ta entire sword is strong. 'Tis a fine weapon, worthy of a name. What shall it be called?"

Tom held the sword, examining it in awe. Finally he raised it. "Excalibur." he said, "It shall be called Excalibur."

"A fine name for a fine weapon." Lily said, "It suits you. I mean it. Yeah, it suits it." Lily blushed slightly, but nobody noticed.

"An' not a moment too soon." Smyth said, "Wit ta crystals lit Chaos will beh out ta cause, well, chaos. Yeh must hurry."

"Right." Tom said, "Thank you, Smyth. If we return, I'll pay you well for this."

Smyth shook his head. "Call it my contribution to the world's safety." he said, "Besides, twas fun ta work wit ta adamantite. I couldna charge for that."

Tom smiled. "Thank you." and the Warriors of Light left.

Since they flew through the night they arrived in Cornelia mid-morning. When she found out what day it was, Maron announced it was her birthday. To celebrate (and rest up for their upcoming confrontation) they took the day off.

As they walked the streets pretending like they were strangers and not Warriors of Light they saw a cart loaded with crystal pendants. A woman in blue robes with long black hair and green eyes was standing by it, trying to attract customers. She caught sight of them and smiled.

"Sami!" Cali called and hurried over. She embraced Sami like a sister and looked her over. "No worse for wear after facing the Fiend of Air, eh?"

Sami was speechless for a moment, as was everyone else. The transformation from the evil black mage to the gorgeous young woman standing in front of them was astounding.

"Yeah, we got off easy." Sami finally answered, "If you don't mind my asking, how did you get here so fast?"

"Small ship, fast currents, good winds." Cali replied, "And some teleporting." she added as an afterthought. "When I got here I had no idea what I could do. All I knew how to do was destroy. Then I thought about how fire was used to purify metals, and I thought, 'I could make crystals like that I bet.' So I did, and now I sell them. Do you like them?"

Sami picked up one, a deep red. "I don't recognize the crystal." she said.

"Quartz." Nate said, examining a blue one, "A common mineral, often found in sand. It comes in many colors, but I've never seen it crafted like this. Reformed, I take it?"

"That's right." Cali said, "I took the quartz crystals I made from gravel along the shore and molded it with lightning. I've been working on glass sculptures, but no luck with that yet."

"How much are these?" Maron asked, holding up a sea-green one.

"Let's see, that one is...five gold." she said, "Normally ten, but those haven't sold as well as expected so I put them on sale."

Maron rummaged around for the gold but Lily paid for it instead. "Call it a birthday gift." she said, and Maron smiled.

"It's your birthday?" Cali asked, "Well happy birthday! And what a nice day for a birthday it is too. Not a cloud in the sky, not too hot and not too cold. How old are you now?"

"I'm fourteen." Maron said.

"Really? Sure a lot of muscle for a fourteen-year-old girl."

"Working with these guys is no picnic." she said, "But there's no place I'd rather be."

Cali laughed. "At least you won't be a fat slob working for them then. That's good."

They talked for a few minutes more, then they had to leave. Cali held Sami back for a minute.

"Thanks." she said, "I was in a bad way, and you pulled me out of it." She pressed the red crystal into Sami's hand. "It's not much, but I want you to have it. I know how much you loved that color when you were little."

"I still do." Sami said, "Thank you."

"No." Cali replied, "Thank you." They embraced once more and Sami hurried to catch up to the others.

She indeed had a living sister.


	35. Chaos Shrine, Past and Present

Chapter 34: Chaos Shrine, Past and Present

"No, you can't come with us!"

"But why?"

"Because as much as you've been through, this is too much! Do you understand?"

Lily and Maron were having a quiet but intense argument while the others packed. Maron wanted to go, and Lily wasn't allowing it.

"Haven't I proven myself?" Maron asked, "I went with you through two temples and the Citadel of Trials! I can do it!"

"You don't understand!" Lily said desperately, "This isn't like those! Once we start there is no going back. No way out. It is likely we will never return."

"All the more reason to let me! I can help!"

"We need someone here," Lily said, "in case we fail. We need someone who can gather others together to defeat Chaos if we fall." Lily saw the disappointed look on Maron's face and said, "You can accompany us to Chaos Shrine, but no farther. Stay outside and wait for us. If we don't return in three days, go back to Cornelia. Tell the king that we have not returned and to gather the strongest warriors and magi to complete our task. Understood?"

Maron nodded glumly. "Alright."

"Good. Let's go." Lily said.

The sun had not yet risen and the Warriors of Light were nearly invisible in the dark. They slipped away from Cornelia, heading north-west to Chaos Shrine. No enemies wanted to bother them, which was perfectly acceptable to them. They made it to Chaos Shrine and left Maron at the door. Solemnly, like condemned men to the execution, they entered.

They proceeded to the room where they had rescued Princess Sarah. The bats were still there, but they weren't screeching weirdly this time.

"The orb, the orb!" one said, "Use your orbs on the orb! It will open a portal to the past where you can sever the loop!"

"What loop?" Tom asked, "What do you mean?"

"Just what he said." another replied, "You go back in time and defeat Chaos while he is weak. Understand?"

"Yes." Lily said, "But what will happen here?"

"Time will repair itself." a third answered, "It would be like it never happened."

"What about us?" Sami asked.

"You will be the only ones to remember." a fourth said, "You will be unaffected."

"Who are you?" Nate asked.

"We were Sky People sent here to learn of this place and Chaos's power. Our mission is done, know that you know what we know." the fifth one explained.

"Alright. Nothing for it." Tom said. He pulled out his orb and the others followed suit. They moved forward and touched their orbs to the dark orb.

Nothing happened. "Hold this." Sami said, giving Nate her orb. She pulled out the lute and started playing. The orb glowed, and suddenly Maron had run up and grabbed Nate and Sami. Nate's arm wrapped around the orb and they vanished through time.

They found themselves standing in a room like the one they had left, but in better condition. Lily saw Maron and was furious.

"We told you to wait!" Lily exclaimed, "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I could help. If you're going to risk your lives here, then so should I."

"Uh oh." Nate said. They turned to him to see that he still held the dark orb. "I don't think this is good."

"No." came a familiar voice, "It is not good. Not for you anyways."

Everyone turned and, to their shock and horror, saw Garland.

"Surprised? Don't be. The forces brought me back here even as I was dying. Here I met Chaos, and the Fiends. You are too late to stop them. The Fiends have made their march. Soon the crystals will dim, then die. Chaos will rule supreme, and I shall be his champion!"

While Garland was monologing Nate stood. Or tried to. He tripped over the hem of his robe and dropped the black orb, which fell and shattered.

"FOOL!" Garland screamed, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

The world seemed to shimmer suddenly. The Warriors of Light, Maron, and Garland were back in the Chaos Shrine if the present.

"NO!" screamed Garland, "NOT HERE!" Then an evil laugh came from him. "But it does not matter. I cannot defeat you. But Chaos can. I SUMMON THEE, CHAOS, TO DESTROY THOSE WHO WOULD DESTROY YOU!"

There was an explosion and the Light Warriors were knocked backwards. There, standing before them, was Chaos.

"This is going to hurt." Maron said. Nobody disagreed.


	36. Final Confrontation

Chapter 35: Final Confrontation

The fury of the battle was intense. Excalibur rang as it slashed through the air, Icebrand and Lily's rapier accompanying it. Magic flew back and forth, crumbling pillars and ripping stones from the places they had lain for thousands of years.

Chaos swung and Maron hit the wall leg first. It broke and she was out of the fight, though still conscious. Tom retaliated by giving Chaos a deep wound with Excalibur, and Lily used Icebrand to freeze Chaos's mouth shut. Sami had modified Dia into Holy, which was doing massive amounts of damage to Chaos and Nate's spells had never been so focused.

But Chaos was stronger than they had expected and their attacks didn't seem to be doing much. Chaos slammed Tom and Lily and they joined Maron against the wall, stunned.

Sami and Nate kept fighting, hurtling spell after spell at Chaos, who kept taking it and dishing it back at them. He swung again, and Sami hit the wall. The blood spilling from her testified that if she didn't get help soon she would die.

Rage built up in Nate. Sorrow and fear were gone, replaced by an incantation. He started chanting and mana flowed to his fingers, wreathing them in fire, ice, lightning, and earth.

Chaos looked at the black mage for a full second before he realized what was about to happen. He shot a death spell at Nate, but it was absorbed into the maelstrom of magic surrounding him.

"Help Sami!" Nate called during a pause in the incantation, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime spell, and I won't be able to do it again!"

The maelstrom was at its greatest, and Nate uttered the final words of the incantation. "Power of the Earth!" he called, "Power of the Water! Power of the Fire! Power of the Air! With the Power of Darkness are they bound, with the Voice of Light are they called! I bring now, the Apocalypse!"

The maelstrom focused to a point in front of Nate, then surged forward against Chaos.

Sami woke at this point, saw the spell blast Chaos into oblivion, heard chaos in his death scream. She saw Nate standing there, swaying from exhaustion and then saw him fall to the floor.

"No." she said weakly. She stood, shakily, and went to Nate's side. The others followed, Maron being supported by Lily and Tom. Nate was lying face-up on the ground, eye glowing vacantly. They didn't know what he was seeing.

The rest of Nate's memories came back. He had turned himself in. Stood trial, found that the man he thought he had killed had lived. The sentence of three years, being let out early on good behavior. Walking down the street, the orb in the gutter.

He blinked. He was on his back in Chaos Shrine, Tom, Lily, Sami, and Maron standing over him.

"I wasn't so bad after all." he said. Then he gasped, as did the others. The black veil covering his face faded, then vanished. For the first time they saw his true face.

He looked average. His skin was lighter than it should have been, and his brown hair was somewhat mussed. His steel-gray eyes registered surprise.

"Now I understand." he said, "I was brought here because I was the only one who could break the loop. I was the easiest way to prevent time from rewriting two thousand years of history."

He closed his eyes and smiled. "It's done now. We're done...Chaos is defeated." He started laughing. "We're done. We survived it."

Everyone joined in the laughter, which intensified when Sami planted a big kiss on Nate's cheek. They were done. It was over.


	37. The Beginning of the End

Chapter 36: The Beginning of the End

_Rumble rumble._

The Light Warriors looked up and saw the ceiling cracking and crumbling.

"We need to get out of here!" Nate said. They started limping out, each of them too injured to run. Then Nate saw Garland.

Garland was unconscious, lying face down amid the rubble. Nate rolled his eyes. "I'm going to regret this." he said. Then he grabbed Garland and dragged him out. He and Garland managed to get out just as the entire shrine fell down behind them.

"What'd you bring him out for?" Sami asked, surprised, "He just tried to kill us!"

"Uggh." Garland groaned, "I shouldn't have had that last glass of wine. I'm probably late for my shift." He sat up and looked around. "Who the heck are you and why am I here?"

"You should know." Sami said, "You summoned Chaos to kill us!"

"What?" Garland asked, "I'm Garland, knight of Cornelia. I wouldn't summon Chaos to save my life!"

"So you don't remember anything?" Nate asked, "Nothing at all?"

"Nothing except that I'm late for my shift."

"Well, in that case, let's go." Tom said, "It's a good day's walk back."

"I'm not going anywhere until my leg's splinted." Maron said stubbornly.

"I'll do one better." Sami said. She held her hand over Maron's leg and healed it.

"Great." Nate said, smiling, "We'll fill you in while we set up camp."

"Fine, but if I get in trouble, it's on your head." Garland said.

They set up camp, explaining their whole adventure to Garland. They had no sooner finished than Garland started asking questions.

"So I was possessed by Chaos." he asked.

"Right." Tom said.

"And you kids beat him."

"Barely." Nate replied.

"And I'm not dead...why?"

"Because Nate dragged you out of the shrine before it fell in on itself." Sami said.

"And you would save someone who tried to kill you...why?"

"Because it seemed like the right thing to do." Nate answered.

"And how did that whole time-loop-thing go again? The one you broke?"

"Something along the lines of if we go back in time and defeat Chaos and the Fiends, then none of the events that would be required for us to go back in time would have happened. Therefore, we would not have gone back in time. But if we didn't go back in time, then Chaos and the Fiends would not have been defeated in the past and they would have come and set about the requirements for us to have had our adventure and gone back in time to defeat them, which would have kept us from going back in time due to the lack of a need, leading Chaos and Fiends to not be slain in the past, leading us to go back and kill them, leading us..." Lily answered.

"Enough! I've already got a headache, that just made it worse. Just tell my why it was broken." Garland said, holding the sides of his head.

"'Cause clumsy here dropped the black orb and sent us to the present before we had killed the Fiends or Chaos, meaning the past stayed the same and thus so did the present, ending the loop permanently." Sami answered. "Make sense?"

"No." Garland sighed, shaking his head. "But then, I'm still reeling from Lily's time-loop rant. I think I'll take a nap and shake off this headache, I wouldn't be any use on duty right now anyway." And with that he lay down and started dozing.

Nate glanced at Sami and smiled. "Not half bad, once you beat the demon out of him."

Sami smiled back. "Not unlike someone else I know."


	38. The End of the Beginning

Chapter 37: The End of the Beginning

The next day they began to head back to Cornelia. As they walked each couldn't help but think that this might just be the most beautiful day ever. The sun was perfectly bright and warm, the grass soft, and the trees more serene than ever.

About half-way Nate asked "So what do you think we'll have to go through once we get back?"

"I have no idea." Tom said. "I've never had a triumphant return before."

"Typically people line the streets waiting for you as soon as word gets out you're on your way back." Garland said. "The king comes out and greets you, a party is held, and the tale is told to the librarians and scribes to preserve it for future generations. After that it all depends on how amazing the task was. With you, lets see, you'll probably be invited to every city around, have to retelling your tale at each place for them to record it, attend numerous balls, parties, and feasts, and then disguise yourselves so that nobody knows who you are just so you can have some peace and quiet."

"I'm sorry I asked. Think we should pretend we died in the fight?" Nate said.

"Don't tempt me." Sami replied, with numerous nods from Tom, Lily, and Maron. "But as soon as we went back into town even for a loaf of bread people would realize what had happened and we'd be done for anyway. Might as well face it and get it over with."

"Guess you're right." Nate mumbled. "Just as long as they don't make any action figures of us."

"What's an action figure?" Maron asked.

"Never mind." Nate said. "A relic from the place I'm from."

"Besides," Lily said, "we could always sink into obscurity once the novelty wears off. Should only take, oh, twenty or thirty years."

"Only?" Sami muttered.

"I think you're over exaggerating. How bad can it be?" Tom asked.

"Princess Sara might try to get you to marry her." Maron said with a smile.

Tom paled. "You're right. Proceed with caution."

They were now in sight of the gates. A guard on the wall saw them and ran off, and soon you could hear cheering from inside the walls.

"Well guys," Tom said, "time to face the music. Any last request?"

"Can we not go in?" Nate asked.

"How about we send Garland and he tells them we got eaten by wolves." Maron said.

"We've been through this. They'll track us down anyway; a guard saw us." Tom said.

"Then how about we run in, bow, and run out?" Lily said. "I think I could cast Invisible on everyone."

"How about Nate casts Dark once everyone sees us, and we fly off and live with the Lufenians?" Sami proposed.

"Tempting." Tom replied.

"Doesn't matter now." Garland piped up. "We're here."

The great gates of Cornelia opened and it was just as Garland had said. People were lining the street, cheering. They were greeted by the king himself and ended up telling everyone about their adventures right then and there. A party was indeed scheduled for the next night, and the heroes were given rooms in the castle to give them even a little peace, though only the king threatening the staff with a lashing for pestering the Heroes of Light kept them at bay. The only ones who were allowed to see them were the court healers, but that was to tend to their numerous bumps, bruises, and wounds. One tried hitting on Nate, who with his veil gone was a much easier target. He quickly found out he could put it back up again, much to the disappointment of the healer. Sami was happy about that though; she had said something about him looking weird without it.

The party began, and they once again had to tell their story in front of everyone. The king announced a new holiday to celebrate the defeat of Chaos and the blight that had covered the world. A feast was set and they were able to eat a little between questions and fans vying for their attention.

Finally there was a dance, the last part before the party ended. This was perhaps the worst part, since each one of them received at least a half-dozen marriage request. In a moment of relative calm Nate was dancing with Sami and asked in a hushed voice "Is it just me, or is everyone here wedding-crazy?"

Sami snorted and said, "It's not just you. I'm about to go get my war hammer from my room to beat all these guys off."

Nate nodded. "No kidding. I might just do your last request and Dark our way out."

Sami laughed, then suddenly became more serious. "Uh oh. Sara's coming. Tom's in for it."

They turned to see what was about to happen. Princess Sarah was approaching Tom, who was not oblivious to her despite how he was trying to avoid her gaze. As she got closer he started looking around to find a way to keep her off him. He saw Lily and, closing the gap between them in no time flat, kissed her.

Sara stopped, stunned, then hurried off in another direction. Lily blushed bright red, and everyone else laughed.

The dance lasted late into the night, with Garland being reinstated as a Knight of Cornelia near then end. Sami found a way to keep everyone off her by playing the lute, which netted her a very captive audience that, in the end, consisted of everyone there. Calmed by her music and the late hour everyone gave them some breathing room until the party ended. The Heroes of Light left as soon as was permissible and returned to their rooms. When they got there, Nate just stopped. Everyone looked at him.

"What's wrong?" Sami asked.

"Nothing. That's what's wrong. There's no demon to face, no fiend to prepare for, no crazy cave standing between us and our goal, heck, not even the imps are trying to pick a fight with us. There's nothing wrong!"

Lily laughed. "You're right. It's strange, isn't it."

"I don't know. It feels kind of nice." Sami said. "We can, for a little while anyway, relax."

"That's true." Tom said wistfully. "How long has it been since we rested? Really rested? I've lost track."

"I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I can just sit around all day any more." Maron said. "After all we've been through, everything is going to be a vacation."

"True." Nate said, then sighed. "We did it. It's done. And what's more, we all made it out alive."

Everyone smiled, then laughed. There was a final group hug, then each went to their own room for a well-deserved rest.

Quite the end to a grand adventure, a final fantasy.

THE END


	39. Author's Notes

Author's Notes

First, I took plenty of liberty when creating the dialog. The characters never actually _say_ anything in the game, so that was pretty fun. I also took a lot of the same liberty to the plot. I didn't think that running all over the continents to get one little thing was a good way for the story to go, so I tweaked a few things to make it quicker and to give the characters a break. With that, I really did not like the time-loop thing that happens at the end and the Garland-Chaos thing, so I fixed that as well.

Again, reviews are welcome and constructive criticism is always appreciated. Thanks for reading!


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